1,721,062 research outputs found
Overexpression of the Anthocyanidin Synthase Gene in Strawberry Enhances Antioxidant Capacity and Cytotoxic Effects on Human Hepatic Cancer Cells
No full textFood fortification through the increase and/or modulation of bioactive compounds has become a major goal for preventing several diseases, including cancer. Here, strawberry lines of cv. Calypso transformed with a construct containing an anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) gene were produced to study the effects on anthocyanin biosynthesis, metabolism, and transcriptome. Three strawberry ANS transgenic lines (ANS L5, ANS L15, and ANS L18) were analyzed for phytochemical composition and total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and their fruit extracts were assessed for cytotoxic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma. ANS L18 fruits had the highest levels of total phenolics and flavonoids, while those of ANS L15 had the highest anthocyanin concentration; TAC positively correlated with total polyphenol content. Fruit transcriptome was also specifically affected in the polyphenol biosynthesis and in other related metabolic pathways. Fruit extracts of all lines exerted cytotoxic effects in a dose/time-dependent manner, increasing cellular apoptosis and free radical levels and impairing mitochondrial functionality. © 2018 American Chemical Society
Molecular and biochemical studies on phytonutrient accumulation in peach fruit
No full textCarotenoids are plant metabolites which are not only essential in photosynthesis but also important quality factors in determining the pigmentation and aroma of flowers and fruits. The expression patterns of relevant carotenoid genes and metabolites were studied throughout fruit development, in order to investigate carotenoid metabolism and the relationships between ethylene emission and carotenoid production in peaches (Prunus persica L. Batsch.). Four cultivars with different flesh colour (yellow vs. white) and/or flesh type (melting vs. stonyhard) were analyzed throughout the fruit development cycle. 'Redhaven Bianca', the white-fleshed mutant of 'Redhaven', showed the highest levels of ccd1 expression at all stages of fruit development. The dioxygenase genes family, in peach as in other species, is directly involved in carotenoid degradation and the concomitant emission of volatile substances with a high odour impact. In both white-fleshed stony-hard genotypes, however, this gene was very poorly expressed in the fruit, suggesting that the stony-hard trait interacts with the metabolism/catabolism of carotenoids
Identifying a Carotenoid Cleavage Dioxygenase (ccd4) Gene Controlling Yellow/White Fruit Flesh Color of Peach
No full textPeach flesh color is a monogenic trait with the white phenotype being dominant over the yellow; its expression has been reported to be determined by a carotenoid degradative enzyme. In the present study, a carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (ccd4) gene was analyzed to test whether it can be responsible for the flesh color determinism. The analysis was conducted on chimeric mutants with white and yellow sectors of the fruit mesocarp; it was then extended to a pool of cultivars and a segregating F1 population. A ccd4 functional allele is consistently associated with the ancestral white flesh color; on the other hand, the yellow phenotype originated from at least three independent mutations disrupting ccd4 function, thus preventing carotenoid degradation. In addition, retro-mutations recovering ccd4 function and re-establishing the ancestral white flesh color were detected. Our results show that ccd4 is the gene controlling flesh color in peach; its expression results in the degradation of carotenoids in white-fleshed genotypes, while the yellow color arises as a consequence of its inactivation. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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
Air Quality Monitoring in a BIM model by means of a IoT Sensors Network
No full textBIM (Building Information Modeling) is an object-oriented approach for the digital modeling of buildings and infrastructures, a centralized system for sharing technical information among all Stakeholders during the entire life cycle of the structure. BIM is at the same time a tool for planning, evaluation, monitoring and documentation; however, some constraints determine a potential gap between represented reality and actual reality. This gap is determined by the fact that the information within the system is updated manually by expert designers, losing substantial synchronization with the real system under analysis. The risk is also to have a so extensive dataset to make its update management complex for a human user. Currently, to achieve direct interaction between civil structures and digital modeling systems, the scientific community is carrying out researches for the application of digital twin concepts in the field of construction automation. In particular, studies about the integration between IoT sensor networks and BIM start to be explored. The project described in this paper aims to propose such integration with a specific focus on air quality parameters monitoring, leveraging on scalable approaches. The data updating system is based on a distributed IoT sensor network, designed and implemented using free and open-source software; the communication protocols are all based on open broker-based technologies, like MQTT, and the data dashboard aimed to visualize real-time data and historical data series are based on web applications over HTTP. The research project led to the creation of a sensorized and BIM-modeled hub which demonstrates the validity of the concept
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
A new, general-purpose two-dimensional mesh generator for finite elements, generalized finite differences, and moment method applications
No full textAppropriate 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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe 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
- …
