1,721,006 research outputs found
Characterization of carrot cell lines resistant to 5MT obtained by irradiating suspension cultures with UV-light.
No full textA mutagenic procedure of carrot cell suspension by means of UV-light has been established. The application of this procedure to the selection of cell lines resistant to 5-methyltryptophan (5MT) increased 11 times the spontaneous mutation rate. Eighteen colonies selected in the course of one experiment have been analyzed for quantitative resistance to the analogue. Four of the most 5MT-resistant lines selected (one spontaneous and three induced) were also tested for their resistance to azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (A2C) to which all of them proved to be resistant even though this was an unselected trait.
The four lines were tested for the intracellular content of some free amino acids. Results of such determination showed that the content of tryptophan and proline was roughly proportional to the degree of resistance of the lines to the two analogues. The fact that all the lines resistant to 5MT over-produced proline suggests that the latter feature may be a direct consequence of the increased pool of free tryptophan. The four cell lines tested showed a rate of tryptophan uptake similar to that of the parental line. On the contrary the rate of proline and A2C by the 5MT-l1 cell line was reduced to 23% and 10% of that of the parental line, respectively
Collagenase production in an Antarctic strain of Arthrobotrys tortor Jarowaja
No full textThis paper describes the results of a comparative screening between the nematophagous Antarctic fungus Arthrobotrys tortor and other species of that genus for the production of extracellular collagenases. The nematode species used in this study was Caenorhabditis elegans, feeding on Escherichia coli cultures. Determination of collagenase activity was made using insoluble collagen from bovine Achilles tendon and determining the amount of solubilized hydroxyproline produced. The results show that the total amount of collagenase produced by the Antarctic strain of A. tortor was about threefold higher than that observed for the other species. In the Antarctic strain, collagenase was shown to be a constitutive enzyme
Methods of Purification and Application Procedures of Alpha1 Antitrypsin: A Long-Lasting History.
No full textThe aim of the present report is to review the literature addressing the methods developed for the purification of alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) from the 1950s to the present. AAT is a glycoprotein whose main function is to protect tissues from human neutrophil elastase (HNE) and other proteases released by neutrophils during an inflammatory state. The lack of this inhibitor in human serum is responsible for the onset of alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), which is a severe genetic disorder that affects lungs in adults and for which there is currently no cure. Being used, under special circumstances, as a medical treatment of AATD in the so-called "replacement" therapy (consisting in the intravenous infusion of the missing protein), AAT is a molecule with a lot of therapeutic importance. For this reason, interest in AAT purification from human plasma or its production in a recombinant version has grown considerably in recent years. This article retraces all technological advances that allowed the manufacturers to move from a few micrograms of partially purified AAT to several grams of highly purified protein. Moreover, the chronic augmentation and maintenance therapy in individuals with emphysema due to congenital AAT deficiency (current applications in the clinical setting) is also presented
Effects of exogenous amino acids on the intracellular content of proline and other amino acids in Daucus carota cells
No full textThe effect of tryptophan on the biosynthesis of proline has been investigated. Cells of Daucus carota grown in B5 medium supplemented with 5x10 - 4 M tryptophan acquired the ability to grow in the presence of inhibitory concentrations of azetidine-2-carboxylic
acid, an analog of proline. When trp was added to carrot cell cultures at sub-growth inhibiting concentrations, overproduction of intracellular free proline was observed. An increase was also observed
for lys, his, ala, leu and phe. Likewise, the addition of asparagine, glutamic acid and phenylalanine to the medium stimulated the intracellular increase of free proline and other amino acids
Protease-Specific Biomarkers to Analyse Protease Inhibitors for Emphysema Associated with Alpha 1-Antitrypsin Deficiency. An Overview of Current Approaches.
Full text linkAs a known genetic cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) can cause severe respiratory problems at a relatively young age. These problems are caused by decreased or absent levels of alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT), an antiprotease which is primarily functional in the respiratory system. If the levels of AAT fall below the protective threshold of 11 μM, the neutrophil-derived serine proteases neutrophil elastase (NE) and proteinase 3 (PR3), which are targets of AAT, are not sufficiently inhibited, resulting in excessive degradation of the lung parenchyma, increased inflammation, and increased susceptibility to infections. Because other therapies are still in the early phases of development, the only therapy currently available for AATD is AAT augmentation therapy. The controversy surrounding AAT augmentation therapy concerns its efficiency, as protection of lung function decline is not demonstrated, despite the treatment's proven significant effect on lung density change in the long term. In this review article, novel biomarkers of NE and PR3 activity and their use to assess the efficacy of AAT augmentation therapy are discussed. Furthermore, a series of seven synthetic NE and PR3 inhibitors that can be used to evaluate the specificity of the novel biomarkers, and with potential as new drugs, are discussed
Spinach Chloroplast Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Dehydrogenase (NADP) Formation of Complexes with Coenzymes and Substrates
No full text
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
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