1,720,972 research outputs found

    Tissue-Specific Modulation of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter by Magnesium Ions

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    This paper analyzes the kinetics of the Ca2+ uniporter of mitochondria from rat heart, kidney and liver operating in a range of Ca2+ concentrations near the steady-state value (1-4 microM). Heart mitochondria exhibit the lowest activity, and physiological Mg2+ concentrations inhibit the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter by approx. 50% in heart and kidney, and by 20% in liver. At physiological Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations the external free Ca2+ maintained by respiring mitochondria in vitro is higher in heart and kidney with respect to liver mitochondria. This behaviour could represent an adaptation of different mitochondria to their specific intracellular environment

    Carboxyl domain of glutamate receptor directs its coupling to metabolic pathways.

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    Of the six metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) only mGluR1 and mGluR5, which possess a large carboxyl terminal domain, are positively linked to phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis. We expressed a 3' deletion of mGluR1 alpha (mGluR1T) lacking the terminal 290 codons and the full length mGluR1 alpha cDNAs in human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Agonist stimulation of both mGluR1 alpha and mGluR1T stimulated PI hydrolysis. Glutamate activation of PI hydrolysis was reduced by pertussis toxin when mediated via mGluR1 alpha, while mGluR1T required the presence of extracellular Ca2+. Glutamate-mediated reduction of adenylyl cyclase stimulation by forskolin occurred only in mGluR1T-expressing cells. The results suggest that the carboxyl terminal extension directs the coupling of mGluR1 with different signal transduction pathways

    Intrinsic uncoupling of mitochondrial proton pumps. 1. Non-ohmic conductance cannot account for the nonlinear dependence of static head respiration on delta microH.

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    The passive membrane conductance LH1 of rat liver mitochondria has been measured and compared with the quantity nJesh/delta microHsh (n = H+/e stoichiometry; Jesh = rate of electron transfer in static head) over a delta microH range. The two curves approach each other only in the lower part of the range, while they sharply diverge at large values of delta microH. Thus nJesh/delta microHsh cannot be considered to be a measure of LH1 in the upper delta microH region. Only a fraction of the static head electron flow is accounted for by futile proton cycling via leaks. Contaminating open membrane fragments or completely leaky mitochondria can be responsible for only a small part of the residual rate of oxygen consumption. We conclude that a large part of static head respiration must have yet another cause and propose it to be intrinsic uncoupling of the respiratory chain enzymes

    Nigericin-induced transient changes in rat-liver mitochondria.

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    Addition of nigericin to mitochondria oxidizing succinate in a choline- and Tris-supplemented, low-KCl medium leads to a transient matrix acidification, followed by a return of pHin to values very close to pHout. The initial inhibition of stimulated respiration is gradually relieved as pHin returns to higher values. Matrix realkalinization depends on the operation of the H+ pumps and on the electrogenic influx of cations and efflux of anions. The process leads to replacement of much of the matrix K+ by other cations. Throughout the acidification/realkalinization cycle delta mu H variations, if any, are small, even though there are profound changes in the relative contributions of its two components, delta psi and delta pH

    Functional evidence for a L-AP3-sensitive metabotropic receptor different from glutamate metabotropic receptor mGluR1.

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    The efficacy of mGluR agonists quisqualate and 1S,3R-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (1S,3R-ACPD) in stimulating the inositol phosphate (IP) formation in primary cultures of cerebellar granule neurons correlated with mGluR1 mRNA expression and was affected by the medium KCl content. L-2-Amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid (L-AP3) mimicked the stimulatory action of mGluR agonists. Maximal stimulatory doses of mGluR agonist 1S,3R-ACPD and L-AP3 were additive, suggesting the action of L-AP3 on a receptor different from mGluR1. Indeed, in embryonic kidney 293 cells transfected with mGluR1 cDNA quisqualate and 1S,3R-ACPD but not L-AP3 stimulated the IP formation

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods
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