Protein interaction studies point to new functions for Escherichia coli glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is considered a multifunctional protein with defined functions in numerous mammalian cellular processes. GAPDH functional diversity depends on various factors such as covalent modifications, subcellular localization, oligomeric state and intracellular concentration of substrates or ligands, as well as protein-protein interactions. In bacteria, alternative GAPDH functions have been associated with its extracellular location in pathogens or probiotics. In this study, new intracellular functions of E. coli GAPDH were investigated following a proteomic approach aimed at identifying interacting partners using in vivo formaldehyde cross-linking followed by mass spectrometry. The identified proteins were involved in metabolic processes, protein synthesis and folding or DNA repair. Some interacting proteins were also identified in immunopurification experiments in the absence of cross-linking. Pull-down experiments and overlay immunoblotting were performed to further characterize the interaction with phosphoglycolate phosphatase (Gph). This enzyme is involved in the metabolism of 2-phosphoglycolate formed in the DNA repair of 3"-phosphoglycolate ends generated by bleomycin damage. We show that interaction between Gph and GAPDH increases in cells challenged with bleomycin, suggesting involvement of GAPDH in cellular processes linked to DNA repair mechanisms.

A thematic analysis of delusion with religious content in schizophrenia: open, closed, and mixed dynamics

The aim of the present study was to elicit how patients with delusions with religious contents conceptualized or experienced their spirituality and religiousness. Sixty-two patients with present or past religious delusions went through semistructured interviews, which were analyzed using the three coding steps described in the grounded theory. Three major themes were found in religious delusions: ''spiritual identity,'' ''meaning of illness,'' and ''spiritual figures.'' One higher-order concept was found: ''structure of beliefs.'' We identified dynamics that put these personal beliefs into a constant reconstruction through interaction with the world and others (i.e., open dynamics) and conversely structural dynamics that created a complete rupture with the surrounding world and others (i.e., closed structural dynamics); those dynamics may coexist. These analyses may help to identify psychological functions of delusions with religious content and, therefore, to better conceptualize interventions when dealing with it in psychotherapy.

Multiplicative interaction of functional inflammasome genetic variants in determining the risk of gout.

INTRODUCTION: The acute gout flare results from a localised self-limiting innate immune response to monosodium urate (MSU) crystals deposited in joints in hyperuricaemic individuals. Activation of the caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 8 (CARD8) NOD-like receptor pyrin-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome by MSU crystals and production of mature interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is central to acute gouty arthritis. However very little is known about genetic control of the innate immune response involved in acute gouty arthritis. Therefore our aim was to test functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variants in the toll-like receptor (TLR)-inflammasome-IL-1β axis for association with gout. METHODS: 1,494 gout cases of European and 863 gout cases of New Zealand (NZ) Polynesian (Māori and Pacific Island) ancestry were included. Gout was diagnosed by the 1977 ARA gout classification criteria. There were 1,030 Polynesian controls and 10,942 European controls including from the publicly-available Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) and Framingham Heart (FHS) studies. The ten SNPs were either genotyped by Sequenom MassArray or by Affymetrix SNP array or imputed in the ARIC and FHS datasets. Allelic association was done by logistic regression adjusting by age and sex with European and Polynesian data combined by meta-analysis. Sample sets were pooled for multiplicative interaction analysis, which was also adjusted by sample set. RESULTS: Eleven SNPs were tested in the TLR2, CD14, IL1B, CARD8, NLRP3, MYD88, P2RX7, DAPK1 and TNXIP genes. Nominally significant (P < 0.05) associations with gout were detected at CARD8 rs2043211 (OR = 1.12, P = 0.007), IL1B rs1143623 (OR = 1.10, P = 0.020) and CD14 rs2569190 (OR = 1.08; P = 0.036). There was significant multiplicative interaction between CARD8 and IL1B (P = 0.005), with the IL1B risk genotype amplifying the risk effect of CARD8. CONCLUSION: There is evidence for association of gout with functional variants in CARD8, IL1B and CD14. The gout-associated allele of IL1B increases expression of IL-1β - the multiplicative interaction with CARD8 would be consistent with a synergy of greater inflammasome activity (resulting from reduced CARD8) combined with higher levels of pre-IL-1β expression leading to increased production of mature IL-1β in gout.

Consistency of safety and efficacy of new oral anticoagulants across subgroups of patients with atrial fibrillation.

AIMS: The well-known limitations of vitamin K antagonists (VKA) led to development of new oral anticoagulants (NOAC) in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the consistency of treatment effects of NOAC irrespective of age, comorbidities, or prior VKA exposure. METHODS AND RESULTS: All randomized, controlled phase III trials comparing NOAC to VKA up to October 2012 were eligible provided their results (stroke/systemic embolism (SSE) and major bleeding (MB)) were reported according to age (≤ or >75 years), renal function, CHADS2 score, presence of diabetes mellitus or heart failure, prior VKA use or previous cerebrovascular events. Interactions were considered significant at p <0.05. Three studies (50,578 patients) were included, respectively evaluating apixaban, rivaroxaban, and dabigatran versus warfarin. A trend towards interaction with heart failure (p = 0.08) was observed with respect to SSE reduction, this being greater in patients not presenting heart failure (RR = 0.76 [0.67-0.86]) than in those with heart failure (RR = 0.90 [0.78-1.04]); Significant interaction (p = 0.01) with CHADS2 score was observed, NOAC achieving a greater reduction in bleeding risk in patients with a score of 0-1 (RR 0.67 CI 0.57-0.79) than in those with a score ≥2 (RR 0.85 CI 0.74-0.98). Comparison of MB in patients with (RR 0.97 CI 0.79-1.18) and without (RR 0.76 CI 0.65-0.88) diabetes mellitus showed a similar trend (p = 0.06). No other interactions were found. All subgroups derived benefit from NOA in terms of SSE or MB reduction. CONCLUSIONS: NOAC appeared to be more effective and safer than VKA in reducing SSE or MB irrespective of patient comorbidities. Thromboembolism risk, evaluated by CHADS2 score and, to a lesser extent, diabetes mellitus modified the treatment effects of NOAC without complete loss of benefit with respect to MB reduction.

Solutions in radiology services management: a literature review

AbstractObjective:The present study was aimed at reviewing the literature to identify solutions for problems observed in radiology services.Materials and Methods:Basic, qualitative, exploratory literature review at Scopus and SciELO databases, utilizing the Mendeley and Illustrator CC Adobe softwares.Results:In the databases, 565 papers – 120 out of them, pdf free – were identified. Problems observed in the radiology sector are related to procedures scheduling, humanization, lack of training, poor knowledge and use of management techniques, and interaction with users. The design management provides the services with interesting solutions such as Benchmarking, CRM, Lean Approach, ServiceBlueprinting, continued education, among others.Conclusion:Literature review is an important tool to identify problems and respective solutions. However, considering the small number of studies approaching management of radiology services, this is a great field of research for the development of deeper studies.

Fotofísica de carotenóides e o papel antioxidante de b-caroteno

Carotenoid polyenes play a wide role in nature and their photophysical properties make of these pigments a focus of research in photochemistry, photobiology and photomedicine. Some aspects of the singlet and triplet states and, their interaction with molecular and singlet oxygen and free radicals are briefly reviewed in this article.

Mecanização no preparo de amostras por microondas: o estado da arte

This review presents the latest advances of the mechanisation in sample preparation using microwave oven. The fundamental principles of microwaves field interaction with matter are presented, followed by the basic principles of microwave equipment construction. Hyphenation of microwave oven with flow injection analysis or robotic are discussed as well as some metodological difficulties and solutions by its implementation.

The ESRg matrix for strong field d5 systems

This review has tried to collect and correlate all the various equations for the g matrix of strong field d5 systems obtained from different basis sets using full electron and hole formalism calculations. It has corrected mistakes found in the literature and shown how the failure to properly take in symmetry boundary conditions has produced a variety of apparently inconsistent equations in the literature. The review has reexamined the problem of spin-orbit interaction with excited t4e states and finds that the earlier reports that it is zero in octahedral symmetry is not correct. It has shown how redefining what x, y, and z are in the principal coordinate system simplifies, compared to previous methods, the analysis of experimental g values with the equations.

A pesquisa como perspectiva de formação continuada do professor de química

The education of a chemistry teacher is not being seen as a specific preparation for the exercise of a professional activity, which differs from the professional activity of a chemist or a chemistry researcher. This happens because in the academic field, mainly in the exact and natural sciences, the idea that knowing a determined subject is enough to be able to teach it, is tacitly accepted. This is, actually, the first condition to be able to be a university professor. There is another necessary condition for competent teaching: to have specific professional knowledege of teaching. I defend that this knowledge can be constitued in the interaction with other professionals in the form of research. Thus, as a chemist constitutes himself through the research in the interaction with other chemists, the teacher develops himself in this professional field in the interaction with other teachers and the permanent attitude of researching.

Interação de compostos organossulfurados derivados do alho com o citocromo-c: um estudo eletroquímico

Organosulfur compounds present in garlic and onion have been evaluated as inhibitors of chemical carcinogenesis. Among them diallylsulfide was mainly investigated and studies demonstrated its metabolization to the corresponding sulfoxide and sulfone. In this work, we report the investigation of the interaction between the diallylsulfide and its oxidized derivatives, through cyclic voltammetry, with horse heart cytocrome-c (on a modified electrode with 4-mercaptopyridine). Our results suggest that there is a reversible interaction between cytocrome-c and diallylsulfide and diallylsulfone and an irreversible interaction with the diallylsulfoxide.

Non-thermal emission from microquasar/ISM interaction

Context. The interaction of microquasar jets with their environment can produce non-thermal radiation as in the case of extragalactic outflows impacting on their surroundings. Significant observational evidence of jet/medium interaction in galactic microquasars has been collected in the past few years, although little theoretical work has been done regarding the resulting non-thermal emission. Aims. In this work, we investigate the non-thermal emission produced in the interaction between microquasar jets and their environment, and the physical conditions for its production. Methods. We developed an analytical model based on those successfully applied to extragalactic sources. The jet is taken to be a supersonic and mildly relativistic hydrodynamical outflow. We focus on the jet/shocked medium structure in its adiabatic phase, and assume that it grows in a self-similar way. We calculate the fluxes and spectra of the radiation produced via synchrotron, inverse Compton, and relativistic bremsstrahlung processes by electrons accelerated in strong shocks. A hydrodynamical simulation is also performed to investigate further the jet interaction with the environment and check the physical parameters used in the analytical model. Results. For reasonable values of the magnetic field, and using typical values of the external matter density, the non-thermal particles could produce significant amounts of radiation at different wavelengths, although they do not cool primarily radiatively, but by adiabatic losses. The physical conditions of the analytical jet/medium interaction model are consistent with those found in the hydrodynamical simulation. Conclusions. Microquasar jet termination regions could be detectable at radio wavelengths for current instruments sensitive to ~arcminute scales. At X-ray energies, the expected luminosities are moderate, although the emitter is more compact than the radio one. The source may be detectable by XMM-Newton or Chandra, with 1-10 arcsec of angular resolution. The radiation at gamma-ray energies may be within the detection limits of the next generation of satellite and ground-based instruments.

Síntese de β-D-galactopiranosídeos de arila diméricos para avaliação de sua interação com a lectina de Erythrina cristagalli

The synthesis of two new D-galactose-based dimers having a 1,4-butanediamine spacer is reported aiming at the evaluation of their interaction with the Erythrina cristagalli lectin. The title compounds were prepared in four and five steps from 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-D-galactopyranoside bromide, in 20 % and 15 % overall yield, respectively, using the Doebner modification of the Koenavenagel reaction as the key sep. The lectin-carbohydrate interaction could be evaluated for only one dimer, due to solubility problems. A twofold enhancement of affinity was observed, compared to the corresponding monovalent ligand.

Os nanomateriais e a questão ambiental

The increasing use of nanomaterials in several products in different areas such as electronics, cosmetics, food and drugs has attracted the attention of the scientific community due to unknown properties of these materials, such as the life cycle and the interaction with receptor organisms once they reach the environment. In this context, the present work shows an updated scenario of nanomaterials applications, characterization methods and toxicity evaluation, also addressing important aspects related to the development and application of nanotechnology under the environmental point of view.

Síntese, caracterização e estudos de interação de um análogo da antitoxina CcdA empregando fluorescência no estado estacionário

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems contribute to plasmid stability by a mechanism called post-segregational killing. The ccd was the first TA system to be discovered with CcdB being the toxin and CcdA the antitoxin. CcdA, an 8.3 kDa protein, interacts with CcdB (11.7 kDa), preventing the cytotoxic activity of CcdB on the DNA gyrase. As an approach to understanding this interaction, CcdA41, a polypeptide derived from CcdA, was synthesized by solid-phase methodology and its interaction with CcdB was analyzed by steady state fluorescence. CcdA41 formed a stable complex with CcdBET2, a peptide based on CcdB, the more recently described bacterial topoisomerase inhibitor.

Determinação do ponto de névoa em surfactantes não iônicos por espectroscopia de impedância elétrica

In this paper, we analyze the use of electrical impedance spectroscopy applied to determination of cloud point. The slope of admittance measured at 100 kHz is reduced to temperature above the critical value which characterizes the phase transition, in a strong indication that this process is activated during the clouding. Additionally to this study we explored the influence of parameters such as additives and temperature on the performance of phase separation of residues (silver nanoparticles) by cloud point extraction. The interaction with salt maximizes the separation of chemical residues in a progressively reduced temperature.