Influence of water activity and molecular mobility on peroxidase activity in salt and sorbitol-maltodextrin systems

Solvent composition, system mobility and viscosity play a central role in the regulation of enzymatic activity.The aim of this study was to investigate the individual and combined effect of water activity (a_w), bulk viscosity and glass transition temperature () on the activity of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in buffered solutions. For this purpose, the water activity of the solutions was modulated using both a ionic (sodium chloride) and a non-ionic (sorbitol) ligand and viscosity changed upon the addition of maltodextrin.In viscous solutions characterized by different compositions, the effectiveness of a solute in the inhibition of the HRP activity was dependent both on the chemical properties of the solution, as described by a_w, and on the mobility of the system, as described by the inverse of viscosity and T − . Viscosity was the most important factor in the inhibition of HRP activity in solutions characterized by the same value, but when was changed, due to changes in the solutes composition, the latter became a key factor in the regulation of the enzyme activity.In salt-maltodextrin systems the water activity reduction limited HRP activity with higher efficiency at low viscosities whilst in sorbitol-maltodextrin systems, characterised by different values, the a_w lowering by sorbitol addition resulted in the increase of HRP activity depending on its effect on .     

No Time to Die: How Kidney Cancer Evades Cell Death

The understanding of the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma led to the development of targeted therapies, which dramatically changed the overall survival rate. Nonetheless, despite innovative lines of therapy accessible to patients, the prognosis remains severe in most cases. Kidney cancer rarely shows mutations in the genes coding for proteins involved in programmed cell death, including p53. In this paper, we show that the molecular machinery responsible for different forms of cell death, such as apoptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and necroptosis, which are somehow impaired in kidney cancer to allow cancer cell growth and development, was reactivated by targeted pharmacological intervention. The aim of the present review was to summarize the modality of programmed cell death in the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma, showing in vitro and in vivo evidence of their potential role in controlling kidney cancer growth, and highlighting their possible therapeutic value.     

The General Product Machine: a New Model for Symbolic FSM Traversal

Proving the equivalence of two Finite State Machines (FSMs) has many applications to synthesis, verification, testing, and diagnosis. Building their product machine is a theoretical framework for equivalence proof. There are some cases where product machine traversal, a necessary and sufficient check, is mandatory. This is much more complex than traversing just one of the component machines. This paper proposes an equivalence-preserving function that transforms the product machine in theGeneral Product Machine (GPM). Using the GPM in symbolic state space traversal reduces the size of the BDDs and makes image computation easier. As a result, GPM traversal is much less expensive than product machine traversal, its cost being close to dealing with a single machine.