Specific and nonspecific collapse in protein folding funnels

Experiments with fast folding proteins are beginning to address the relationship between collapse and folding. We investigate how different scenarios for folding can arise depending on whether the folding and collapse transitions are concurrent or whether a nonspecific collapse precedes folding. Many earlier studies have focused on the limit in which collapse is fast compared to the folding time; in this work we focus on the opposite limit where, at the folding temperature, collapse and folding occur simultaneously. Real proteins exist in both of these limits. The folding mechanism varies substantially in these two regimes. In the regime of concurrent folding and collapse, nonspecific collapse now occurs at a temperature below the folding temperature (but slightly above the glass transition temperature).

Efectos de protección financiera del sistema de salud pública y del seguro privado en Brasil

Incluye Bibliografía

The financial protection impact of the public health system and private insurance in Brazil

Includes bibliography

Algunos aspectos del financiamiento industrial en América Latina

Incluye Bibliografía

Valores: um estudo sobre a não-neutralidade da ciência

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Regulación del sector eléctrico en Chile, Perú y Venezuela

Incluye Bibliografía

CEPAL Review no. 95

The emergence of Latin multinationals / Javier Santiso .-- The new urban poverty: global, regional and Argentine dynamics during the last two decades / Gabriel Kessler and María Mercedes Di Virgilio .-- Economic regulation to supplement bidding for public works contracts / Eugenio Rivera Urrutia .-- The relation between foreign-exchange and banking crises in emerging countries: information and expectations problems / Daniel Sotelsek and Lilianne Pavón .-- Mexico’s slow-growth paradox / Carlos Ibarra .-- Globalization and regional development: the economic performance of Chile’s regions, 1990-2002 / Juan Carlos Ramírez J. and Iván Silva Lira .-- The fi nancial protection impact of the public health system and private insurance in Brazil / Antônio M. Bós and Hugh R. Waters .-- The impact of gender discrimination on poverty in Brazil / Rosycler Cristina Santos Simão and Sandro Eduardo Monsueto .-- Bank consolidation and credit concentration in Brazil (1995-2004) / Daniel B. de Castro Almeida and Frederico G. Jayme Jr. .-- Guidelines for contributors to the CEPAL Review .-- Recent ECLAC publications.

Revista de la CEPAL no.95

La emergencia de las multilatinas / Javier Santiso .-- La nueva pobreza urbana: dinámica global, regional y argentina en las últimas dos décadas / Gabriel Kessler y María Mercedes Di Virgilio .-- La regulación económica como complemento de las licitaciones en las concesiones de obras públicas / Eugenio Rivera .-- La relación entre crisis cambiarias y bancarias en países emergentes: los problemas de información y expectativas / Daniel Sotelsek y Lilianne Pavón .-- La paradoja del crecimiento lento de México / Carlos Ibarra .-- Globalización y desarrollo regional: evolución económica de las regiones chilenas, 1990-2002 / Juan Carlos Ramírez J. e Iván Silva Lira .-- Efectos de protección financiera del sistema de salud pública y del seguro privado en Brasil / Antônio M. Bós y Hugh R. Waters .-- Impactos de la discriminación por género sobre la pobreza brasileña / Rosycler Cristina Santos Simão y Sandro Eduardo Monsueto .-- Consolidación bancaria y concentración del crédito en Brasil (1995-2004) / Daniel B. de Castro Almeida y Frederico G. Jayme Jr. .-- Orientaciones para los colaboradores de la Revista de la cepal .-- Publicaciones recientes de la cepal.

Environmental influences on antibody-enhanced dengue disease outcomes

Because an enriched environment (EE) enhances T-cell activity and T-lymphocytes contribute to immunopathogenesis during heterologous dengue virus (DENV) infections, we hypothesised that an EE increases dengue severity. To compare single serotype (SS) and antibody-enhanced disease (AED) infections regimens, serial intraperitoneal were performed with DENV3 (genotype III) infected brain homogenate or anti-DENV2 hyperimmune serum followed 24 h later by DENV3 (genotype III) infected brain homogenate. Compared AED for which significant differences were detected between the EE and impoverished environmental (IE) groups (Kaplan-Meyer log-rank test, p = 0.0025), no significant differences were detected between the SS experimental groups (Kaplan-Meyer log-rank test, p = 0.089). Survival curves from EE and IE animals infected with the AED regimen were extended after corticoid injection and this effect was greater in the EE than in the IE group (Kaplan-Meyer log-rank test, p = 0.0162). Under the AED regimen the EE group showed more intense clinical signs than the IE group. Dyspnoea, tremor, hunched posture, ruffled fur, immobility, pre-terminal paralysis, shock and death were associated with dominant T-lymphocytic hyperplasia and presence of viral antigens in the liver and lungs. We propose that the increased expansion of these memory T-cells and serotype cross-reactive antibodies facilitates the infection of these cells by DENV and that these events correlate with disease severity in an EE.

Comparative analysis of tandem repeats from hundreds of species reveals unique insights into centromere evolution

Background: Centromeres are essential for chromosome segregation, yet their DNA sequences evolve rapidly. In most animals and plants that have been studied, centromeres contain megabase-scale arrays of tandem repeats. Despite their importance, very little is known about the degree to which centromere tandem repeats share common properties between different species across different phyla. We used bioinformatic methods to identify high-copy tandem repeats from 282 species using publicly available genomic sequence and our own data.Results: Our methods are compatible with all current sequencing technologies. Long Pacific Biosciences sequence reads allowed us to find tandem repeat monomers up to 1,419 bp. We assumed that the most abundant tandem repeat is the centromere DNA, which was true for most species whose centromeres have been previously characterized, suggesting this is a general property of genomes. High-copy centromere tandem repeats were found in almost all animal and plant genomes, but repeat monomers were highly variable in sequence composition and length. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of sequence homology showed little evidence of sequence conservation beyond approximately 50 million years of divergence. We find that despite an overall lack of sequence conservation, centromere tandem repeats from diverse species showed similar modes of evolution.Conclusions: While centromere position in most eukaryotes is epigenetically determined, our results indicate that tandem repeats are highly prevalent at centromeres of both animal and plant genomes. This suggests a functional role for such repeats, perhaps in promoting concerted evolution of centromere DNA across chromosomes.

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Genomic signatures of evolutionary transitions from solitary to group living

The evolution of eusociality is one of the major transitions in evolution, but the underlying genomic changes are unknown. We compared the genomes of 10 bee species that vary in social complexity, representing multiple independent transitions in social evolution, and report three major findings. First, many important genes show evidence of neutral evolution as a consequence of relaxed selection with increasing social complexity. Second, there is no single road map to eusociality; independent evolutionary transitions in sociality have independent genetic underpinnings. Third, though clearly independent in detail, these transitions do have similar general features, including an increase in constrained protein evolution accompanied by increases in the potential for gene regulation and decreases in diversity and abundance of transposable elements. Eusociality may arise through different mechanisms each time, but would likely always involve an increase in the complexity of gene networks.