28,889 research outputs found
Delay of germination-1 (DOG1): a key to understanding seed dormancy
[Abstract] DELAY OF GERMINATION-1 (DOG1), is a master regulator of primary dormancy (PD) that acts in concert with ABA to delay germination. The ABA and DOG1 signaling pathways converge since DOG1 requires protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) to control PD. DOG1 enhances ABA signaling through its binding to PP2C ABA HYPERSENSITIVE GERMINATION (AHG1/AHG3). DOG1 suppresses the AHG1 action to enhance ABA sensitivity and impose PD. To carry out this suppression, the formation of DOG1-heme complex is essential. The binding of DOG1-AHG1 to DOG1-Heme is an independent processes but essential for DOG1 function. The quantity of active DOG1 in mature and viable seeds is correlated with the extent of PD. Thus, dog1 mutant seeds, which have scarce endogenous ABA and high gibberellin (GAs) content, exhibit a non-dormancy phenotype. Despite being studied extensively in recent years, little is known about the molecular mechanism underlying the transcriptional regulation of DOG1. However, it is well-known that the physiological function of DOG1 is tightly regulated by a complex array of transformations that include alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, histone modifications, and a cis-acting antisense non-coding transcript (asDOG1). The DOG1 becomes modified (i.e., inactivated) during seed after-ripening (AR), and its levels in viable seeds do not correlate with germination potential. Interestingly, it was recently found that the transcription factor (TF) bZIP67 binds to the DOG1 promoter. This is required to activate DOG1 expression leading to enhanced seed dormancy. On the other hand, seed development under low-temperature conditions triggers DOG1 expression by increasing the expression and abundance of bZIP67. Together, current data indicate that DOG1 function is not strictly limited to PD process, but that it is also required for other facets of seed maturation, in part by also interfering with the ethylene signaling components. Otherwise, since DOG1 also affects other processes such us flowering and drought tolerance, the approaches to understanding its mechanism of action and control are, at this time, still inconclusive
Attempts to detect retrotransposition and de novo deletion of Alus and other dispersed repeats at specific loci in the human genome
Dispersed repeat elements contribute to genome instability by de novo insertion and unequal recombination between repeats. To study the dynamics of these processes, we have developed single DNA molecule approaches to detect de novo insertions at a single locus and Alu-mediated deletions at two different loci in human genomic DNA. Validation experiments showed these approaches could detect insertions and deletions at frequencies below 10(-6) per cell. However, bulk analysis of germline (sperm) and somatic DNA showed no evidence for genuine mutant molecules, placing an upper limit of insertion and deletion rates of 2 x 10(-7) and 3 x 10(-7), respectively, in the individuals tested. Such re-arrangements at these loci therefore occur at a rate lower than that detectable by the most sensitive methods currently available
When risk becomes illness: The personal and social consequences of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia medical surveillance
[Abstract]
Background,
After the early detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), medical surveillance of
the precancerous lesions is carried out to control risk factors to avoid the development of
cervical cancer.
Objective.
To explore the effects of medical surveillance on the personal and social lives of women
undergoing CIN follow-up and treatment.
Methodology.
A generic qualitative study using a poststructuralist perspective of risk management was
carried out in a gynecology clinic in a public hospital of the Galician Health Care System
(Spain). Participants were selected through purposive sampling. The sample consisted of
21 women with a confirmed diagnosis of CIN. Semistructured interviews were recorded and
transcribed, and a thematic analysis was carried out, including researcher triangulation to
verify the results of the analysis.
Findings.
Two main themes emerged from the participants’ experiences: CIN medical surveillance
encounters and risk management strategies are shaped by the biomedical discourse, and
the effects of “risk treatment” for patients include (a) profound changes expected of patients,
(b) increased patient risk management, and (c) resistance to risk management. While doctors’ surveillance aimed to prevent the development of cervical cancer, women felt they
were sick because they had to follow strict recommendations over an unspecified period of
time and live with the possibility of a life-threatening disease. Clinical risk management resulted in the medicalization of women’s personal and social lives and produced great
uncertainty.
Conclusions.
This study is the first to conceptualize CIN medical surveillance as an illness experience for
patients. It also problematizes the effects of preventative practices in women’s lives.
Patients deal with great uncertainty, as CIN medical surveillance performed by gynecologists simultaneously trivializes the changes expected of patients and underestimates the
effects of medical recommendations on patients’ personal wellbeing and social relations
Port-City Development: The Spanish Case
[Abstract]: The objective of this paper is to try to evaluate the port-city
relationship from its onset, taking into account the challenges
of port 4.0. Indicators such as the percentage of employees
participating in training programs, the percentage of female
employees in Galician ports, the percentage of merchandise
moved by private operators and the percentage of companies
with quality certification in Galician ports are evaluated. The
fourth revolution is based on the transition from current
fossil fuel-based energy models to alternative energy sources,
changes in the logistics and transport parameters and finally,
on the elimination of intermediation. The key component of
the third pillar of new Economy 4.0 is complete digitalization.
The optimum port-city solution must address the need of both
the urban planner and the port manager to evaluate potential
measures that would alleviate the pressure of dedicated port
facilities on the city and vice versa to the greatest extent possible
The introduction of sickness insurance in Spain in the first decades of the Franco dictatorship (1939-1962)
[Abstract:]Using new statistical data on financing, coverage and economic and health care
provisions, this article analyses how sickness insurance was introduced, managed
and extended in Spain, under the Franco dictatorship, between 1939 and 1962. This
article highlights how the dictatorship accelerated its implementation for political
motives and this resulted in a failure of the system due to the lack of public financing
and the high pharmaceutical, medical and infrastructure cost
Rietveld Quantitative Phase Analysis of Oil Well Cement: in Situ Hydration Study at 150 Bars and 150 °C
Oil and gas well cements are multimineral materials that hydrate under high pressure
and temperature. Their overall reactivity at early ages is studied by a number of techniques
including through the use of the consistometer. However, for a proper understanding of the
performance of these cements in the field, the reactivity of every component, in real‐world
conditions, must be analysed. To date, in situ high energy synchrotron powder diffraction studies
of hydrating oil well cement pastes have been carried out, but the quality of the data was not
appropriated for Rietveld quantitative phase analyses. Therefore, the phase reactivities were
followed by the inspection of the evolution of non‐overlapped diffraction peaks. Very recently, we
have developed a new cell specially designed to rotate under high pressure and temperature. Here,
this spinning capillary cell is used for in situ studies of the hydration of a commercial oil well
cement paste at 150 bars and 150 °C. The powder diffraction data were analysed by the Rietveld
method to quantitatively determine the reactivities of each component phase. The reaction degree
of alite was 90% after 7 hours, and that of belite was 42% at 14 hours. These analyses are accurate,
as the in situ measured crystalline portlandite content at the end of the experiment, 12.9 wt%,
compares relatively well with the value determined ex situ by thermal analysis, i.e., 14.0 wt%. The
crystalline calcium silicates forming at 150 bars and 150 °C are also discussed.This research was funded by Spanish MINECO, grant number BIA2017‐82391‐R which is co‐funded
by FEDER.
We thank Marc Malfois for his help during the experiment performed at NCD‐SWEET
beamline at ALBA synchrotron. We also thank Marcus Paul (Dyckerhoff GmbH) for providing the OWC
sample with its characterization and helpful discussions
Analysis of Four Polymorphisms Located at the Promoter of the Estrogen Receptor Alpha ESR1 Gene in a Population With Gender Incongruence
[Abstract] Introduction: Gender incongruence defines a state in which individuals feel discrepancy between the sex assigned at birth and their gender. Some of these people make a social transition from male to female (transwomen) or from female to male (trans men). By contrast, the word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity is consistent with their sex assigned at birth.
Aim: To analyze the implication of the estrogen receptor a gene (ESR1) in the genetic basis of gender incongruence.
Main Outcome Measures: Polymorphisms rs9478245, rs3138774, rs2234693, rs9340799.
Method: We carried out the analysis of 4 polymorphisms located at the promoter of the ESR1 gene (C1 ¼ rs9478245, C2 ¼ rs3138774, C3 ¼ rs2234693, and C4 ¼ rs9340799) in a population of 273 trans
women, 226 trans men, and 537 cis gender controls. For SNP polymorphisms, the allele and genotype frequencies were analyzed by c2 test. The strength of the SNP associations with gender incongruence was measured by binary logistic regression. For the STR polymorphism, the mean number of repeats were analyzed by the ManneWhitney U test. Measurement of linkage disequilibrium and haplotype frequencies were also performed.
Results: The C2 median repeats were shorter in the trans men population. Genotypes S/S and S/L for the C2 polymorphism were overrepresented in the trans men group (P ¼ .012 and P ¼ .003 respectively). We also found overtransmission of the A/A genotype (C4) in the trans men population (P ¼ .017), while the A/G genotype (C4) was subrepresented (P ¼ .009]. The analyzed polymorphisms were in linkage disequilibrium. In the trans men population, the T(C1)-L(C2)-C(C3)-A(C4) haplotype was overrepresented (P ¼ .019) while the T(C1)-L(C2)-C(C3)-G(C4) was subrepresented (P ¼ .005).
Conclusion: The ESR1 is associated with gender incongruence in the trans men populationThis work was supported by grants: ED431B 019/02 (EP), PGC2018-094919-B-C21 (AG), PGC2018-094919-B-C22 (RF), and FPU 15/02558 (JCC)Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 019/0
Cloud-Based Collaborative 3D Modeling to Train Engineers for the Industry 4.0
In the present study, Autodesk Fusion 360 software (which includes the A360 environment) is used to train engineering students for the demands of the industry 4.0. Fusion 360 is a tool that unifies product lifecycle management (PLM) applications and 3D-modeling software (PDLM—product design and life management). The main objective of the research is to deepen the students’ perception of the use of a PDLM application and its dependence on three categorical variables: PLM previous knowledge, individual practices and collaborative engineering perception. Therefore, a collaborative graphic simulation of an engineering project is proposed in the engineering graphics subject at the University of La Laguna with 65 engineering undergraduate students. A scale to measure the perception of the use of PDLM is designed, applied and validated. Subsequently, descriptive analyses, contingency graphical analyses and non-parametric analysis of variance are performed. The results indicate a high overall reception of this type of experience and that it helps them understand how professionals work in collaborative environments. It is concluded that it is possible to respond to the demand of the industry needs in future engineers through training programs of collaborative 3D modeling environments
Unstable periodic orbits of perturbed Lorenz equations
The extended Malkus-Robbins dynamo [Moroz, 2003] reduces to the Lorenz equations when one of the key parameters, , vanishes. In a recent study [Moroz, 2004] investigated what happened to the lowest order unstable periodic orbits of the Lorenz limit as was increased to the end of the chaotic regime, using the classic Lorenz parameter values of r = 28; = 10 and b = 8=3. In this paper we return to the parameter choices of [Moroz, 2003], reporting on two of the cases discussed therein
Determination of biosorption mechanism in biomass of agave, using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques for the purification of contaminated water
[Abstract] Lead (Pb2+) and copper (Cu2+) are polluting metals due to their toxicity; however, the extraction of these metals is essential for economic development, so it is important to look for efficient and low-cost alternatives that can remove heavy metals from the various bodies of water. One of the alternatives used in this work is biosorption, for which an agroindustrial waste (epidermis from Agave atrovirens) was used to evaluate the affinity of removal of lead and copper in aqueous solutions; in addition, spectroscopy and microscopy techniques were used to elucidate and corroborate the removal and affinity capacity of the agave epidermis for both metals studied. The optimal pH value for the removal of both metals was 3. The adsorption isotherms yielded a qmax of 25.7 and 8.6 mg/g for lead and copper, respectively. Adjusting to the Langmuir-Freundlich model, the adsorption kinetics were pseudo-second order, and it was found that the equilibrium time was at 140 min. The spectroscopy and microscopy analyses corroborated the affinity between metals and functional groups of the agave, as well as with the elemental analysis, which reported 17.38% of lead and 4.25% of copper.[Resumen] El plomo (Pb2+) y el cobre (Cu2+) son metales contaminantes debido a su toxicidad; sin embargo, la extracción de estos metales es indispensable para el desarrollo económico, por lo que es importante buscar alternativas eficientes y de bajo costo que puedan remover metales pesados de los diversos cuerpos de agua. Una de las alternativas utilizadas en este trabajo es la biosorción, para la cual se utilizó un residuo agroindustrial (epidermis de Agave atrovirens), para evaluar la afinidad de remoción del plomo y cobre en soluciones acuosas; adicionalmente, se emplearon técnicas de espesctroscopía y microscopía que permitieron elucidar y corroborar la capacidad de remoción y afinidad que tuvo la epidermis de A. atrovirens para ambos metales estudiados. El valor óptimo de pH para la remoción de ambos metales fue 3. Las isotermas de adsorción arrojaron una qmax de 25.7 y 8.6 mg/g para el plomo y cobre, respectivamente. Ajustando al modelo de Langmuir-Freundlich, las cinéticas de adsorción resultaron de pseudo-segundo orden, se encontró que el tiempo de equilibrio es a los 140 min. El análisis espectroscópico y microscópico, corroboró la afinidad entre metales y grupos funcionales del agave, así como con el análisis elemental, el cual reportó 17.38% de plomo y 4.25% de cobre
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