Quantitative analysis of protein glycation in clinical samples

Comunicaciones a congreso

Myokines and Resistance Training : A Narrative Review

In the last few years, the muscular system has gained attention due to the discovery of the muscle-secretome and its high potency for retaining or regaining health. These cytokines, described as myokines, released by the working muscle, are involved in anti-inflammatory, metabolic and immunological processes. These are able to influence human health in a positive way and are a target of research in metabolic diseases, cancer, neurological diseases, and other non-communicable diseases. Therefore, different types of exercise training were investigated in the last few years to find associations between exercise, myokines and their effects on human health. Particularly, resistance training turned out to be a powerful stimulus to enhance myokine release. As there are different types of resistance training, different myokines are stimulated, depending on the mode of training. This narrative review gives an overview about resistance training and how it can be utilized to stimulate myokine production in order to gain a certain health effect. Finally, the question of why resistance training is an important key regulator in human health will be discussed

The Social and Economic Long Term Monitoring Program (SELTMP) 2014: Recreation in the Great Barrier Reef

[Extract] Introduction.\ud People love to spend their recreational time visiting the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), (GBRMPA, 2009), and many people are doing it! The recent SELTMP surveys revealed that 95% of residents of coastal town adjacent to the GBR had visited the GBRWHA for recreation at least once, and 87% had visited in the previous 12 months. Many of these visits appeared to be to a mainland beach to walk, swim, and relax. However, 68% of people who told us about their recent trips had been beyond the mainland beach to islands, reefs, shoals, etc., to take part in activities such as fishing, snorkelling and diving. Other activities include boating, sailing, jet skiing, camping, kayaking, sight-seeing, photography, and wildlife viewing, to name a few. Recreational visitors are currently very satisfied with their use of the Marine Park.\ud \ud While most trips beyond the beach were made by ferry, about a third of these trips were accessed by residents' own or someone else's boat. While not everyone is using their vessel very frequently, vessel registration by coastal residents has increased substantially in recent years (Old Department of Transport, unpublished data, 2011).\ud \ud Given all of this activity, it is not surprising that recreation in the GBRWHA provides significant social and cultural benefits as well as many health and wellbeing benefits associated with the psychological interaction with nature (Synergies Economic Consulting, 2012). In economic terms, recreation (defined by Deloitte Access Economics as GBR catchment residents visiting an island, sailing, boating and fishing), contributed $126m in direct value or$243.9m value added to the Australian economy in 2011/12 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2013). This estimate did not include beach visits.\ud Importantly, recreation differs from tourism. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority define recreation as an independent visit for enjoyment that is not part of a commercial operation (GBRMPA, 2012). For the purposes of the SELTMP Surveys (outline following), any resident of the GBR catchment who visits the GBRWHA is included within recreation; while tourists are defined as those residing outside of the GBR catchment

Database Search Strategies for Proteomic Data Sets Generated by Electron Capture Dissociation Mass Spectrometry

Large data sets of electron capture dissociation (ECD) mass spectra from proteomic experiments are rich in information; however, extracting that information in an optimal manner is not straightforward. Protein database search engines currently available are designed for low resolution CID data, from which Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) ECD data differs significantly. ECD mass spectra contain both z-prime and z-dot fragment ions (and c-prime and c-dot); ECD mass spectra contain abundant peaks derived from neutral losses from charge-reduced precursor ions; FT-ICR ECD spectra are acquired with a larger precursor m/z isolation window than their low-resolution CID counterparts. Here, we consider three distinct stages of postacquisition analysis: (1) processing of ECD mass spectra prior to the database search; (2) the database search step itself and (3) postsearch processing of results. We demonstrate that each of these steps has an effect on the number of peptides identified, with the postsearch processing of results having the largest effect. We compare two commonly used search engines: Mascot and OMSSA. Using an ECD data set of modest size (3341 mass spectra) from a complex sample (mouse whole cell lysate), we demonstrate that search results can be improved from 630 identifications (19% identification success rate) to 1643 identifications (49% identification success rate). We focus in particular on improving identification rates for doubly charged precursors, which are typically low for ECD fragmentation. We compare our presearch processing algorithm with a similar algorithm recently developed for electron transfer dissociation (ETD) data

Precursor Ion Independent Algorithm for Top-Down Shotgun Proteomics

We present a precursor ion independent top-down algorithm (PIITA) for use in automated assignment of protein identifications from tandem mass spectra of whole proteins. To acquire the data, we utilize data-dependent acquisition to select protein precursor ions eluting from a C4-based HPLC column for collision induced dissociation in the linear ion trap of an LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Gas-phase fractionation is used to increase the number of acquired tandem mass spectra, all of which are recorded in the Orbitrap mass analyzer. To identify proteins, the PIITA algorithm compares deconvoluted, deisotoped, observed tandem mass spectra to all possible theoretical tandem mass spectra for each protein in a genomic sequence database without regard for measured parent ion mass. Only after a protein is identified, is any difference in measured and theoretical precursor mass used to identify and locate post-translation modifications. We demonstrate the application of PIITA to data generated via our wet-lab approach on a Salmonella typhimurium outer membrane extract and compare these results to bottom-up analysis. From these data, we identify 154 proteins by top-down analysis, 73 of which were not identified in a parallel bottom-up analysis. We also identify 201 unique isoforms of these 154 proteins at a false discovery rate (FDR) of <1%

On Population Growth Near Protected Areas

Background: Protected areas are the first, and often only, line of defense in efforts to conserve biodiversity. They might be detrimental or beneficial to rural communities depending on how they alter economic opportunities and access to natural resources. As such, protected areas may attract or repel human settlement. Disproportionate increases in population growth near protected area boundaries may threaten their ability to conserve biodiversity. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using decadal population datasets, we analyze population growth across 45 countries and 304 protected areas. We find no evidence for population growth near protected areas to be greater than growth of rural areas in the same country. Furthermore, we argue that what growth does occur near protected areas likely results from a general expansion of nearby population centers. Conclusions/Significance: Our results contradict those from a recent study by Wittemyer et al., who claim overwhelming evidence for increased human population growth near protected areas. To understand the disagreement, we re-analyzed the protected areas in Wittemyer et al.’s paper. Their results are simply artifacts of mixing two incompatible datasets. Protected areas may experience unusual population pressures near their edges; indeed, individual case studies provid