324,512 research outputs found
La diplomazia giapponese di fronte alla prima guerra mondiale: dalla dichiarazione alle “ventuno domande”
No full textThe First World War is often seen by the Japanese perspective as the “Nippo-German War” since it cannot be understood as a conflict opposing Japan to the rest of the world, or which threw the country into a specific alliance based on shared principles and common strategic interests. It is a very revealing description, for it implies that this was a brief, narrow bilateral conflict that was limited to East Asia in the autumn of 1914 rather than being part of the profound global clash between two opposing alliance systems that lasted for four long years. This contribution aims to analyse Japan’s diplomatic dimension within the Great War years by retracing the history of related domestic and international aspects, such as the country’s Declaration of War and the “Twenty-One Demands” to China. These events became for Japan the opportunity to assert itself on the global scene as the unique non-Western military power engaging in realpoliti
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
No full textMedium: engravinginscribed l.l. corner, printed: "IL PORDENONE/ Inuent. et Pinse/ nella Chiesa/ di S. ta Maria di Camp. a/ in Piacenza."; signed l.r. corner, printed: "Oliu: o Gatti/ Piacention/ Fece/ M: D. C. V I.""Judith with the Head of Holofernes" [1959.2507.000.000], Gatti, Oliviero, PordenoneArtist and Role: Gatti, Oliviero,Artist and Role: Pordenone, ArtistExtent: imageExtent: sheet (adhered
Location of S‐nitrosylated cysteines in protein three‐dimensional structures
No full textAlthough S-nitrosylation of cysteines is a common protein posttranslational modification, little is known about its three-dimensional structural features. This paper describes a systematic survey of the data available in the Protein Data Bank. Several interesting observations could be made. (1) As a result of radiation damage, S-nitrosylated cysteines (Snc) are frequently reduced, at least partially. (2) S-nitrosylation may be a protection against irreversible thiol oxidation; because the NO group of Snc is relatively accessible to the solvent, it may act as a cork to protect the sulfur atoms of cysteines from oxidation by molecular oxygen to sulfenic, sulfinic, and sulfonic acid; moreover, Snc are frequently found at the start or end of helices and strands and this might shield secondary structural elements from unfolding
On the determinants of corporate default in the EU-27: Evidence from a large sample of companies
No full textWe analyze a large sample of companies operating in the EU-27 in the period 2007-2018 to gain new insights on the determinants of corporate defaults. The sample includes micro, small, medium and large enterprises, both active and defaulting. We document significant differences in the drivers of insolvency across firm size categories. Micro and small firms are significantly more vulnerable to sectoral shocks and to disruptions along the supply chain than larger companies. Instead, the default probability for all firms is significantly larger when companies experience in the previous year negative end-of-the year equity, that is a measure of prolonged financial distress. By exploiting institutional differences in judicial efficiency among EU-27 countries, we find financial distress is more likely to predict default in jurisdictions with more efficient insolvency procedures. Finally, we derive potential implications of our findings, especially with regard to the recent crises hitting European firms and the harmonisation of national insolvency regimes in the EU-27 towards most efficient legal practices, as foreseen under the Capital Markets Union Action Plan
In fibroblasts Vegf-D expression is induced by cell-cell contact mediated by cadherin-11
No full textVascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are a highly conserved family of growth factors all angiogenic in vivo with mitogenic and chemotactic activity on endothelial cells. VEGFs are expressed in fibroblasts either in hypoxia or in response to growth factors. Here we report that, differently from the other members of the family,Vegf-D is induced by cell-cell contact. By in situ hybridization we demonstrated that noninteracting fibroblasts express low levels of Vegf-D mRNA, whereas contacting cells express high levels of Vegf-D transcripts. By immunostaining we observed that the surface protein cadherin-11 is localized at the opposite sites of interacting cell surfaces. Ca2+ deprivation from the culture medium determined the loss of cadherin-11 from the cell surfaces and down-regulation ofVegf-D mRNA. Moreover, a cadherin-11 antisense RNA construct inhibited Vegf-D expression in confluent BALB/c fibroblasts, whereas in NIH 3T3 cells, which express low levels of cadherin-11, Vegf-D induction could be obtained by overexpression of cadherin-11. This suggests that cell interaction mediated by cadherin-11 induces the expression of the angiogenic factorVegf-D in fibroblasts
Utrophin transcription is activated by an intronic enhancer.
No full textThe utrophin gene codes for a large cytoskeletal protein closely related to dystrophin. Its transcription is driven by a TATA-less promoter. Here we analyzed 40 kilobases of the 5' end region of the utrophin gene searching for new utrophin regulatory elements in muscle cells. By transient transfection of utrophin genomic fragments in front of a reporter gene, we identified a new enhancer that maps downstream of the transcription start site within the second intron and co-localizes with a DNase I-hypersensitive site. By deletion analysis it was mapped to a sequence of 128 base pairs that retains the whole activity. Linker scanning mutagenesis showed that most of the enhancer sequence is essential for its transcriptional activity. Binding analysis with nuclear cell extracts demonstrated that the enhancer regulatory elements, identified by mutagenesis, are protected from DNase I digestion. Because utrophin can functionally substitute dystrophin, the identification and characterization of new regulatory elements provide new targets for possible therapies of Duchenne muscular dystrophy aiming at the up-regulation of the utrophin expression in muscle cells
Immune and reproductive system impairment in adult sea urchin exposed to nanosized ZnO via food
No full textIn marine environment the release and the consequent sedimentation of ZnO NPs, mainly used in sunscreens, could provoke toxic effects in particular in grazer organisms, like sea urchins. In this work, a first evaluation of DNA and cellular effects on adult sea urchins Paracentrotus lividus exposed through the diet to different sizes (100 and 14 nm) ZnO NPs, was performed. Moreover, the consequent impact upon offspring quality was evaluated. Preliminarily results showed that the assumption of food containing ZnO NPs 100 nm provoked in adult echinoids damages to immune cells (33% of damaged nucleus) and transmissible effects to offspring (75.5% of malformed larvae). Instead food with ZnO NPs 14 nm provoked 64% of damaged nucleus in immune cells and 84.7% of malformed larvae. © 2017 Elsevier B.V
The human haptoglobin gene promoter: interleukin-6-responsive elements interact with a DNA-binding protein induced by interleukin-6
No full textTranscription of the human haptoglobin (Hp) gene is induced by interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the human hepatoma cell line Hep3B. Cis-acting elements responsible for this response are localized within the first 186 bp of the 5'-flanking region. Site-specific mutants of the Hp promoter fused to the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene were analysed by transient transfection into uninduced and IL-6-treated Hep3B cells. We identified three regions, A, B and C, defined by mutation, which are important for the IL-6 response. Band shift experiments using nuclear extracts from untreated or IL-6-treated cells revealed the presence of IL-6-inducible DNA binding activities when DNA fragments containing the A or the C sequences were used. Competition experiments showed that both sequences bind to the same nuclear factors. Polymers of oligonucleotides containing either the A or the C regions confer IL-6 responsiveness to a truncated SV40 promoter. The B region forms several complexes with specific DNA-binding proteins different from those which bind to the A and C region. The B region complexes are identical in nuclear extracts from IL-6-treated and untreated cells. While important for IL-6 induction in the context of the haptoglobin promoter, the B site does not confer IL-6 inducibility to the SV40 promoter. Our results indicate that the IL-6 response of the haptoglobin promoter is dependent on the presence of multiple, partly redundant, cis-acting elements
The human haptoglobin gene promoter: interleukin-6-responsive elements interact with a DNA-binding protein induced by interleukin-6.
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