101,993 research outputs found
A nuclear protein, synthesized in growth-arrested human hepatoblastoma cells, is a novel member of the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase family
No full textWe have described a protein (Hep27) [Donadel, G., Garzelli, C., Frank, R. & Gabrielli, F. (1991) Eur. J. Biochem. 195, 723-729] which is synthesized and accumulated in the nucleus of human hepatoblastoma (HepG2) cells, following growth arrest induced by butyrate treatment. The synthesis of Hep27 is inhibited in cells that, released from the butyrate block, have resumed DNA synthesis. This report describes the cloning and the characterization of the cDNA coding for the Hep27 protein. The translation of the Hep27 cDNA predicts an amino acid sequence that can be aligned with those of the known short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes (SCAD) family. Both the recognition of enzymic functional domains and the similarity with the SCAD family of proteins of several amino acid blocks throughout the molecule, strongly suggest that this protein is a new member of the SCAD family. In agreement with its nuclear localization Hep27 has a region similar to the bipartite nuclear-targeting sequence. The study of Hep27 mRNA expression and protein synthesis suggests the existence of a regulation at the post-transcriptional level. The possible nuclear role of the Hep27 protein is discussed
Diabetes-linked zinc transporter ZnT8 is a homodimeric protein expressed by distinct rodent endocrine cell types in the pancreas and other glands
No full textCopyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Background and aimsZinc is abundant in pancreas, being required by endocrine islet cells for hormone secretion and by exocrine acinar cells as pancreatic juice component. ZnT8 is a member of the SLC30A family of zinc transporters whose overexpression in cultured pancreatic beta cells leads to increased insulin secretion in response to glucose, suggesting a possible role in regulating glycemia. ZnT8 was therefore proposed as a therapeutic target for diabetes, and recent genome-wide association studies identified polymorphisms in the ZNT8 gene conferring increased type 2 diabetes risk.Methods and resultsAs limited information was available on the biochemical properties of ZnT8 and on its endogenous expression, we have raised a specific polyclonal antibody and immunostained protein extracts, cell lines and tissue sections. We show that ZnT8 forms a very stable dimer that requires biological membranes to properly assemble. We demonstrate localization of murine ZnT8 to the secretory granules in pancreatic beta and alpha islet cells. Moreover, we show that ZnT8 is also expressed in other secretory cell types, namely the cubical epithelium that lines thyroid follicles and the cortex of the adrenal gland, suggesting a more widespread role in endocrine secretion.ConclusionWe provide novel insights into the features of the ZnT8 transporter, of special relevance in light of its proposed role as therapeutical target for diabetes treatment.C. Murgia, C. Devirgiliis, E. Mancini, G. Donadel, P. Zalewski and G. Perozz
Comparison of complete nucleotide sequence of the human IgM heavy chain constant region of polyreactive and monoreactive antibodies
No full textOsservazioni sul ruolo di alcuni enzimi del metabolismo purinico nel muscolo scheletrico
No full textModeling and control of a tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle for path tracking
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Automação e Sistemas, Florianópolis, 2015.Abstract : This master thesis deals with the modeling and control of a small scale birotor tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A tiltrotor is characterized by a mechanism that tilts the aircraft's rotors in order to control the flight. An UAV with such characteristics is being developed by this author and other researchers in the scope of the project named ProVANT. The developed UAV prototype is used in this work to obtain experimental results. This kind of system can be characterized by its underactuated, highly nonlinear, and coupled dynamics. Instead of using a dynamic model available in literature, this work proposes a more accurate model considering the UAV as a multibody system. By doing so the tilting angles become generalized coordinates and the tilt mechanism dynamics are naturally added to the model, as well as the coupling between the bodies. The result is an eight degrees of freedom model obtained through Euler-Lagrange formulation. The path tracking problem is solved here with linear optimal controllers for the full model, instead of the classical approach of cascade control for the translation and rotation subsystems. The developed controllers are linear quadratic regulators, a H1 controller and a multiobjective H2=H1 controller, all with LMI formulation. A nonlinear backstepping controller taken from the literature is implemented in order to be compared with the designed controllers. In addition, controllers for the hovering problem are also designed to be used in experiments with ProVANT's tiltrotor. They reduce the complexity of the initial experimental flights, focusing not only in the validation of the control system, but the complete project, including its electronics, mechanical design, and additional software. Such experiments are presented and discussed in details along this work. The work also addresses how flight-related information are gathered and processed. This includes the design of a nonlinear complementary filter for the attitude estimation that works with data acquired from the UAV sensors.<br
cDNA sequence and genomic organization of mouse secretin
No full textA murine insulinoma library was constructed by subtracting glucagonoma cDNAs from insulinoma cDNAs. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of one of the clones with sequences from the GenBank database showed that it was a member of the secretin family. The clone, 490 bp long, encodes a protein of 133 amino acids consisting of a signal peptide, a N-terminal peptide, secretin, and a C-terminal peptide, which showed 88% and 80% homology with rat and porcine secretin precursor proteins, respectively. The translated secretin peptide showed a unique Met to Thr substitution at position 5 as compared to the secretins from other species. That the Met to Thr substitution was not tumor-related was demonstrated by the fact that an identical sequence was found in cDNA from normal mouse intestine. Studies on the mouse secretin gene revealed that it contains four exons separated by 81 bp, 110 bp, and 96 bp introns
Half-life of polyreactive antibodies
No full textMonoclonal polyreactive antibodies bind to a variety of self and foreign antigens. In contrast, monoclonal monoreactive antibodies bind to a single or restricted number of known antigens. The rate at which polyreactive antibodies are removed from the circulation compared to monoreactive antibodies has not been determined. In the present experiments, human monoclonal polyreactive and monoreactive antibodies of different isotypes were injected intravenously into mice and the clearance from the circulation was determined. The half-life of polyreactive IgM, IgA, and IgG antibodies was 8.0, 8.2, and 9.8 hr, respectively, compared to 35.4, 26.6, and 280 hr for monoreactive IgM, IgA, and IgG antibodies, respectively. Examination of tissue sections from animals given intravenous antibody showed substantial deposition of polyreactive, but not monoreactive, antibodies in several organs, the liver being the principal site of deposition. It is concluded that polyreactive antibodies are cleared from the circulation substantially faster than monoreactive antibodies
Human polyreactive and monoreactive antibodies: effect of glycosylation on antigen binding
No full textThe present experiments were initiated to determine whether the carbohydrate portions of antibody molecules contribute to polyreactivity. Cell lines making human monoclonal polyreactive or monoreactive antibodies of the immunoglobulin (Ig) M, IgG and IgA isotypes were treated with tunicamycin to block N-linked glycosylation of the proteins. Analysis of the secreted native and non-glycosylated proteins revealed a > 95% inhibition of [3H]mannose incorporation. Electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gels of the proteins from tunicamycin-treated cells showed increased mobility and the absence of [3H]mannose incorporation of the immunoglobulin heavy chains, consistent with the lack of glycosylation. The native and non-glycosylated antibodies were then tested for their ability to bind different antigens. Despite the lack of glycosylation, both polyreactive and monoreactive antibodies bound to antigens with little if any loss of reactivity or specificity. It is concluded that the carbohydrate moieties do not contribute significantly to polyreactivity
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