Proteins, fatty acids and nutritional value in the muscle of the fish species Mora moro (Risso, 1810)

Deep-water fish are becoming an interesting object of studies and research due to the development of deep fishery activities. This paper analyses the chemical composition and nutritional value of the fish species Mora moro (Risso, 1810) inhabiting deep Mediterranean waters. The fatty acid profile and the principal water-soluble proteins present in the white muscle of this fish species have also been determined. The major fatty acids were 22 : 6n-3, 16 : 0, 18 : 1n-9, 20 : 4n-6 and 20 : 5n-3. The polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content was higher than that of saturated (SFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids, but the ratio PUFA/SFA was lower than the value reported in other studies. Both the atherogenic index and thrombogenic index were very low. Water-soluble proteins were characterised by monodimensional native PAGE and 2-D SDS-gel electrophoresis. Protein patterns showed the presence of parvalbumins and of the principal myofibrillar proteins. Therefore, the deep-water fish M. moro could represent an interesting target for deep-sea fishery and commercial exploitation.     

Peel LTP (Pru p 3) – the major allergen of peach – is methylated. A proteomic study

Lipid transfer protein (LTP, Pru p 3) is the major allergen of peach (Prunus persica), and is in a greater abundance in the peel than in the pulp of the fruit. Peel LTP is more allergenic than pulp LTP, but it is not clear whether this is due to its specific allergenic properties or to its higher concentration.     

Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-Trifluorethylene)/barium titanate membrane promotes de novo bone formation and may modulate gene expression in osteoporotic rat model

Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that impairs proper bone remodeling. Guided bone regeneration is a surgical technique that improves bone defect in a particular region through new bone formation, using barrier materials (e.g. membranes) to protect the space adjacent to the bone defect. The polytetrafluorethylene membrane is widely used in guided bone regeneration, however, new membranes are being investigated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of P(VDFTrFE)/BT [poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene)/barium titanate] membrane on in vivo bone formation. Twenty-three Wistar rats were submitted to bilateral ovariectomy. Five animals were subjected to sham surgery. After 150 days, bone defects were created and filled with P(VDF-TrFE)/BT membrane or PTFE membrane (except for the sham and OVX groups). After 4 weeks, the animals were euthanized and calvaria samples were subjected to histomorphometric and computed microtomography analysis (microCT), besides real time polymerase chain reaction (real time PCR) to evaluate gene expression. The histomorphometric analysis showed that the animals that received the P(VDF-TrFE)/BT membrane presented morphometric parameters similar or even better compared to the animals that received the PTFE membrane. The comparison between groups showed that gene expression of RUNX2, BSP, OPN, OSX and RANKL were lower on P(VDF-TrFE)/BT membrane; the gene expression of ALP, OC, RANK and CTSK were similar and the gene expression of OPG, CALCR and MMP9 were higher when compared to PTFE. The results showed that the P(VDF-TrFE)/BT membrane favors bone formation, and therefore, may be considered a promising biomaterial to support bone repair in a situation of osteoporosis.     

On Optimally Partitioning a Text to Improve Its Compression

In this paper we investigate the problem of partitioning an input string T in such a way that compressing individually its parts via a base-compressor C gets a compressed output that is shorter than applying C over the entire T at once. This problem was introduced in Buchsbaum et al. (Proc. of 11th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp. 175–184, 2000; J. ACM 50(6):825–851, 2003) in the context of table compression, and then further elaborated and extended to strings and trees by Ferragina et al. (J. ACM 52:688–713, 2005; Proc. of 46th IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, pp. 184–193, 2005) and Mäkinen and Navarro (Proc. of 14th Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval, pp. 229–241, 2007). Unfortunately, the literature offers poor solutions: namely, we know either a cubic-time algorithm for computing the optimal partition based on dynamic programming (Buchsbaum et al. in J. ACM 50(6):825–851, 2003; Giancarlo and Sciortino in Proc. of 14th Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching, pp. 129–143, 2003), or few heuristics that do not guarantee any bounds on the efficacy of their computed partition (Buchsbaum et al. in Proc. of 11th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp. 175–184, 2000; J. ACM 50(6):825–851, 2003), or algorithms that are efficient but work in some specific scenarios (such as the Burrows-Wheeler Transform, see e.g. Ferragina et al. in J. ACM 52:688–713, 2005; Mäkinen and Navarro in Proc. of 14th Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval, pp. 229–241, 2007) and achieve compression performance that might be worse than the optimal-partitioning by a Ω(log?n/log?log?n) factor. Therefore, computing efficiently the optimal solution is still open (Buchsbaum and Giancarlo in Encyclopedia of Algorithms, pp. 939–942, 2008). In this paper we provide the first algorithm which computes in O(nlog?_1+ε n) time and O(n) space, a partition of T whose compressed output is guaranteed to be no more than (1+ε)-worse the optimal one, where ε may be any positive constant fixed in advance. This result holds for any base-compressor C whose compression performance can be bounded in terms of the zero-th or the k-th order empirical entropy of the text T. We will also discuss extensions of our results to BWT-based compressors and to the compression booster of Ferragina et al. (J. ACM 52:688–713, 2005).     

An identity-based approach to secure P2P applications with Likir

Structured overlay networks are highly susceptible to attacks aimed at subverting their structure or functionalities. Although many secure architectural design proposals have been presented in the past, a widely accepted and comprehensive solution is lacking. Likir (Layered Identity-based Kademlia-like Infrastructure) is our solution for implementing a secure Peer-to-Peer network based on a Distributed Hash Table. Our purpose is to focus on three main goals: (1) providing security services and a secure overlay infrastructure against the vast majority of security threats on P2P systems, (2) dynamically creating a bridge between randomly generated peer identifiers and user identities, and (3) supplying the developer with a middleware API that can easily deal with peers’ identities. Placing the emphasis on user identity results in a highly secure distributed framework which is very fitting for privacy-aware and efficient implementation of identity-based applications like social networking applications. Detailed security analysis and performance evaluation are provided. Moreover, an implementation of Likir is introduced and a case study is presented in order to show its practical use in a real-life example.     

瑞士锡永市罗纳河第三次景观改造项目

城市的无序蔓延和气候变化正严重影响着河流的环境与安全.瑞一:锡永市罗纳河第三次景观改造项目通过混合使用模拟工具和计算机设计工具,重新考虑河流、基础设施和城市三者之间的平衡关系和动态变化,创造了一个与人类活动相关的新景观,结合自然发展与城市建设需求,融合生态与美学,形成一个演变发展的综合性景观设计,并展示了一种大尺度景观设计新方法.新方法综合了拓扑学、水文和地形、尺度、时间和过程的各种考虑,应用了一整套建模和视觉模拟工具,可展示易于理解的最终景观意象,并将得到进一步完善.     

Analysis of green kiwi fruit (Actinidia deliciosa cv. Hayward) proteinases by two‐dimensional zymography and direct identification of zymographic spots by mass spectrometry

BACKGROUND: Proteinases present in kiwi fruits are potentially allergenic enzymes belonging to the papain family of cysteine proteinases. Actinidin is a prominent kiwi enzyme. The study of kiwi proteinases is important for the follow‐up of fruit maturation, a deeper insight in the allergenic properties of individual proteins, and the application of kiwi proteinases for meat tenderisation and other industrial purposes. RESULTS: Kiwi crude extracts were analysed by two‐dimensional zymography on gelatin‐containing gels. The digestion by the reactivated proteolytic enzymes after electrophoresis resulted in insights into kiwi proteinases. A mixture of several enzyme isotypes with the same pI but different molecular mass was observed. Clear spots, corresponding to the proteolytic activities, were excised, digested with trypsin, and submitted to MALDI‐ToF mass spectrometry for protein identification. The most representative enzyme was actinidin. CONCLUSIONS: The innovative achievements of the present study are the: (1) two‐dimensional zymographic map of kiwi gelatinases without the need for extensive purification; and (2) direct identification of proteinase isotypes by means of direct MALDI‐ToF MS analysis of the zymographic spots. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Using Acid Mine Drainage to Recover a Coagulant from Water Treatment Residuals

We evaluated the recovery of aluminum from water treatment residuals by acidification using acidic coal mine drainage as an extraction solution. The water treatment residuals had Al and total Fe concentrations of 1.2 and 1.3%, respectively, based on mass. The influence of contact time of the mine water with the water treatment residuals and the percent of excess sulfate were assessed. The results showed that 28 min of contact and 100% of excess sulfate allowed recovery of >90% of the Al. Color was reduced from 25.9 to 0.8 total color units (TCU) and turbidity was reduced from 6 to 0 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). The recovered coagulant performed appropriately in water treatment tests, based on physical–chemical parameters. The only parameter that requires more attention is antimony, which was close to the maximum concentration limits for drinking water.     

Design,Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Tetrahydro‐β‐carboline Derivatives as Selective Sub‐Nanomolar Gelatinase Inhibitors

Targeting matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is a pursued strategy for treating several pathological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and cancer. Herein, a series of novel tetrahydro‐β‐carboline derivatives with outstanding inhibitory activity toward MMPs are present. In particular, compounds 9 f , 9 g , 9 h and 9 i show sub‐nanomolar IC₅₀ values. Interestingly, compounds 9 g and 9 i also provide remarkable selectivity toward gelatinases; IC₅₀=0.15 nm for both toward MMP‐2 and IC₅₀=0.63 and 0.58 nm , respectively, toward MMP‐9. Molecular docking simulations, performed by employing quantum mechanics based partial charges, shed light on the rationale behind binding involving specific interactions with key residues of S1′ and S3′ domains. Taken together, these studies indicate that tetrahydro‐β‐carboline represents a promising scaffold for the design of novel inhibitors able to target MMPs and selectively bias gelatinases, over the desirable range of the pharmacokinetics spectrum.     

Use of mass spectrometry to characterize proteolysis in cheese

A rapid method for characterizing proteolysis in different cheese varieties was developed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS). pH 4.6-soluble extracts of different cheese varieties were sub-fractionated using ethanol and 70% ethanol-soluble extracts were analyzed using MALDI-ToF-MS. Sample analysis time was ∼3 min compared to ∼100 min for reversed-phase HPLC; moreover, the method yielded accurate molecular masses of peptides originating as a result of proteolysis. Small peptides (<3500 m/z) were monitored and data for relative intensities of peptides were analyzed using multidimensional scaling (MDS) to demonstrate the similarity between profiles obtained from different cheese varieties. The similarities between the profiles of MALDI-ToF mass spectra were demonstrated in a two-dimensional space by performing MDS on the similarity matrix. Use of MALDI-ToF-MS is thus a fast and effective method for monitoring small peptides produced in cheese as a result of proteolysis.