The pgip family in soybean and three other legume species: evidence for a birth-and-death model of evolution

Polygalacturonase-inhibiting proteins (PGIPs) are leucine-rich repeat (LRR) plant cell wall glycoproteins involved in plant immunity. They are typically encoded by gene families with a small number of gene copies whose evolutionary origin has been poorly investigated. Here we report the complete characterization of the full complement of the pgip family in soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) and the characterization of the genomic region surrounding the pgip family in four legume species. Results: BAC clone and genome sequence analyses showed that the soybean genome contains two pgip loci. Each locus is composed of three clustered genes that are induced following infection with the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, and remnant sequences of pgip genes. The analyzed homeologous soybean genomic regions (about 126 Kb) that include the pgip loci are strongly conserved and this conservation extends also to the genomes of the legume species Phaseolus vulgaris L., Medicago truncatula Gaertn. and Cicer arietinum L., each containing a single pgip locus. Maximum likelihood-based gene trees suggest that the genes within the pgip clusters have independently undergone tandem duplication in each species. Conclusions: The paleopolyploid soybean genome contains two pgip loci comprised in large and highly conserved duplicated regions, which are also conserved in bean, M. truncatula and C. arietinum. The genomic features of these legume pgip families suggest that the forces driving the evolution of pgip genes follow the birth-and-death model, similar to that proposed for the evolution of resistance (R) genes of NBS-LRR-type

Modelo de rehabilitación ambiental para edificios terciarios: el caso del palacio de congresos Europa de Vitoria-Gasteiz

Este artículo presenta el desarrollo y resultados de la primera fase del asesoramiento ambiental que forma parte del proceso de rehabilitación y ampliación del Palacio de Congresos Europa (PEV-G) del Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz, en el marco de las actuaciones que esta ciudad ha decidido emprender como European Green Capital, a partir de haber obtenido este reconocimiento en 2012. Es un desarrollo de Green Building Council España (GBCe) en colaboración con Societat Orgànica (SO) que propone una metodología y unas acciones para abordar un proceso continuo de mejora ambiental para que el edificio, sus actividades y los actores directamente relacionados puedan alcanzar los máximos niveles posibles de sostenibilidad ambiental, atendiendo también a las dimensiones económica y social. A través de diferentes modelos se ha estudiado el edificio existente, así como las hipótesis de ampliación y rehabilitación determinadas por el ayuntamiento en su anteproyecto, empleando la metodología del análisis de ciclo de vida simplificado centrada en los vectores ambientales de energía, agua, materiales y residuos. Se han determinado diferentes opciones de mejora basadas en aspectos pasivos, activos y de gestión del edificio que han permitido establecer los objetivos ambientales a los cuales debe responder el proyecto, rehabilitación, ampliación y uso del PEV-G. Por último, se han redactado los requerimientos que forman parte de los pliegos de licitación del proceso que va del proyecto al edificio acabado, así como el protocolo ambiental a aplicar en las fases aun no ejecutadas. Los trabajos realizados incluyen el desarrollo inicial de una nueva herramienta de certificación de la calidad ambiental de los edificios Verde RH EQ Rehabilitación de Equipamientos, que se suma a las existentes. De la visión, objetivos, metodología y acciones de reducción de impactos ambientales aplicables al PEV-G se ha obtenido un protocolo de actuación válido para ser aplicado en otros equipamientos de Vitoria-Gasteiz, el País Vasco y el resto de España, a ser rehabilitados en el futuro próximo

Importance of Sexual Function Assessment in Multidimensional Evaluation of AGHD Patients: Results from the MAGHD Study.

Background: Adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) is a debilitating clinical condition leading to decreased quality of life (QoL). The impact of reduced muscle mass, weakening and loss of vitality on QoL have been well characterized in AGHD. The impact of AGHD on sexual function, a recognized factor able to modify well-being, has never been investigated. Aim: To investigate the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in AGHD patients referring to a single endocrinological center and grouped according to their his- tory of r-hGH therapy.Methods: The Management of Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (MAGHD) Study is a pro- spective, real-life trial aiming to improve management of AGHD patients through a smartphone app (MAGHD App)and a wearable device. The 83 AGHD enrolled patients (31 Females, 52 Males, mean age 56.27 + 14.68 years) were divided in 3 groups (G) according to r-hGH therapy: on long-term r-hGH therapy (G1, n=32), previously treated with r-hGH (G2, n=20), never treated (G3, n=31). Within the first phase of the study, a large database was created collecting clinical, biochemical and psychological data. In addition to QLS-H and QoL-AGHDA routinely used to as- sess QoL, IIEF-15 and FSFI were employed to evaluate sexual function in males and females, respectively. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used for compar- ison among 3 groups.Results: Here only baseline data of the MAGHD Study are presented.According to IIEF-15 results, the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) in male AGHD cohort was 60%. Erectile function (EF) score was signifi- cantly higher in G1 compared to both G2 and G3 (p < 0.05) with an ED prevalence of 35% in G1, 75% in G2 and 75% in G3. Even excluding patients with serum testosterone lower than 2 ng/ml and older than 65 years, ED prevalence did not change significantly in the 3 groups. Moreover, EF do- main was inversely and directly correlated to age (R20.130, β-0.360) and IGF1 levels (R20.156, β0.395), respectively. The prevalence of female sexual dysfunction according to FSFI was 89.3%. Even though desire, arousal, lubrication and overall scores were significantly higher (better results) in G1 compared to G2 and G3 (p < 0.05), no correlation resulted between FSFI domains and IGF1 levels. Instead an inverse correlation resulted between desire domain and age.Conclusions: This study, performed in a real-life clinical setting, demonstrates a high prevalence of sexual dysfunc- tion in AGHD patients and that r-hGH treatment seems to be associated to better sexual outcomes. These results suggest that the evaluation of sexual function should be in- tegrated in the global assessment of AGHD patients since sexual activity is a fundamental domain able to influence both well-being and QoL

PURIFICATION OF PROPOLIS FROM POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND PRESERVATION OF ACTIVE POLYPHENOL COMPONENT.

Organic pollutants have become an increasing concern due to their potential of mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and high bioaccumulation. The adverse effects on health and environment caused by specific organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been considered as critical problems. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has defined 16 priority PAH that are both genotoxic and carcinogenic and identified eight (PAH8) or four (PAH4) priority PAH as good indicators of the toxicity and occurrence of PAH in food. Several available techniques (photocatalytic degradation, combined photo-fenton and ultrasound, advanced oxidation, aerobic degradation, filtration, ozonation, coagulation, flocculation, distillation, extraction, precipitation, and adsorption, etc.) have been developed for PAH removal. Food supplements containing propolis were also found to show relatively high PAHs. As a consequence, a main goal is to adopt purification procedures to remove PAH from propolis and preserve its polyphenol components before its use in finished products. Here we report an extractive procedure (M.E.D., Multi Dynamic Extraction) able to purify propolis from a great content of PAH by using a balanced mixture of organic and water solvents. Obtained propolis extracts are still rich in polyphenols and glycosylated derivatives showing PAH8 and specific benzo[a]pyrene content below limits recommended by EFSA

Economic evaluation of automated guided vehicles usage in a food company

Nowadays, companies are more and more attracted and interested by the possibility of automating processes which can be easily carried out by devices or machines instead of employees, allowing saving in costs, higher productivity and flexibility. Among the most spread ways of automating processes, more precisely in this specific case the flow of materials, the Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) stand out. But the main question that everyone asks is the following: is it convenient or not? In this paper, the answer is provided for a company operating in the food context, which intends to automate the transport of raw ingredients from the kitchens where they are produced and prepared to the filling lines; to this end, an economic feasibility study is carried out, taking into account three different levels of automation for three different lines. Results from all the three scenarios demonstrate the convenience in terms of achievable revenues, saved hours and manpower, and will support the management in their operational decisions

Statistical Process Control of assembly lines in a manufacturing plant: Process Capability assessment

Among the main strategies adopted by companies for enhancing their competitive advantage as well as for improving the internal efficiency is the quality management. Several tools can be involved when dealing with this issue; one of these is the Statistical Process Control, which includes the employment of statistical methods and metrics to monitor and control a process' quality. In this paper, indeed, two statistical metrics are involved for assessing the process capability of a filler machine produced by an Italian company operating in the food context. Specifically, two processes are inspected: the slewing ring-pinion backlash and the handling clamps height check, both showing excellent performances after having carried out the control and provided appropriate adjustments. Results are also compared with those obtained from the Six Sigma theory, another tool involved for quality controls which is in line with principles of lean manufacturing. Moreover, for the second process, a software was implemented for speeding up operations and achieving benefits in terms of time. The reliability of these analysis is confirmed by the application of the ANOVA Gage R&R tool, which allowed to assess the precision of the measurement system involved

Plasmatic and urinary glycosaminoglycans characterization in mucopolysaccharidosis II Patient treated with enzyme-replacement therapy with Idursulfase

We report the structural characterization of plasmatic and urinary GAGs in a Patient affected by MPS II (Hunter syndrome) before and during the first ten months of enzyme-replacement therapy (ERT). Plasmatic GAGs before ERT were rich in pathological DS consisting of iduronic acid (IdoA) and composed of ~90% \uf044Di4s and trace amounts of disulfated disaccharides. DS was also characterized as the main (~90%) urinary GAG mainly composed of ~90% \uf044Di4s with minor percentages of monosulfated and disulfated disaccharides, in particular \u394Di2,4dis. After 300 days of ERT, plasmatic DS strongly decreased but ~14% of IdoA-rich \uf044Di4s was still detected. Similarly, urinary galactosaminoglycans were mainly composed of 78% \uf044Di4s, ~11% \uf044Di6s and ~4% \uf044Di0s with the persistence of \u394Di2,4dis (~4%). About 40% of IdoA-formed \uf044Di4s were also calculated thus confirming that pathological DS is still present in excreted urinary GAGs during ERT. By considering the % of IdoA, we observed rather similar kinetics of excretion in fluids from the beginning of the treatment. Immediately after the first enzyme infusion, a large amount of abnormal DS is removed from tissues reaching the blood compartment and eliminated via the urine, and this process lasts for about two weeks. After this, the percentage of IdoA-rich material present in biological fluids remains fairly constant over the following nine months of treatment. To date, these are the first data regarding plasmatic and urinary kinetics directly measured on products released by the activity of the recombinant enzyme Idursulfase, iduronate-2-sulfatase, evaluated using specific and sensitive analytical procedures

Molecular vibration in cold collision theory

Cold collisions of ground state oxygen molecules with Helium have been investigated in a wide range of cold collision energies (from 1 $\mu$K up to 10 K) treating the oxygen molecule first as a rigid rotor and then introducing the vibrational degree of freedom. The comparison between the two models shows that at low energies the rigid rotor approximation is very accurate and able to describe all the dynamical features of the system. The comparison between the two models has also been extended to cases where the interaction potential He - O$_2$ is made artificially stronger. In this case vibration can perturb rate constants, but fine-tuning the rigid rotor potential can alleviate the discrepancies between the two models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure