Mitochondrial Transport in Glycolysis and Gluconeogenesis: Achievements and Perspectives

Some metabolic pathways involve two different cell components, for instance, cytosol and mitochondria, with metabolites traffic occurring from cytosol to mitochondria and vice versa, as seen in both glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. However, the knowledge on the role of mitochondrial transport within these two glucose metabolic pathways remains poorly understood, due to controversial information available in published literature. In what follows, we discuss achievements, knowledge gaps, and perspectives on the role of mitochondrial transport in glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. We firstly describe the experimental approaches for quick and easy investigation of mitochondrial transport, with respect to cell metabolic diversity. In addition, we depict the mitochondrial shuttles by which NADH formed in glycolysis is oxidized, the mitochondrial transport of phosphoenolpyruvate in the light of the occurrence of the mitochondrial pyruvate kinase, and the mitochondrial transport and metabolism of L-lactate due to the L-lactate translocators and to the mitochondrial L-lactate dehydrogenase located in the inner mitochondrial compartment.     

Correction to: On Formal Modeling and Validation of Wireless Sensor Network Protocols

Wireless Personal Communications -     

Photoluminescence of Doped YAG Transparent Ceramics Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering

Doped transparent ceramics have potential for a wide range of optical applications derived from their easily controllable fluorescence properties. The aim of this contribution is to present and discuss an effective fabrication method for doped transparent yttrium aluminum garnet ceramics. The powder synthesis route was adapted from common co-precipitation methods and the powder densification was performed by spark plasma sintering. Parameters of the fabrication process were optimized for different lanthanide dopants in order to obtain highly transparent single- and multi-doped ceramics. The photoluminescence properties of the samples were measured and discussed. The use of lithium fluoride as a sintering additive was confirmed to be favorable and post-sintering heat treatments were shown to be necessary for certain dopants. Finally, the photoluminescence lifetime of dopants in a multi-doped sample were measured and the energy transfer efficiency between dopants was determined.     

Foliar Delivery of siRNA Particles for Treating Viral Infections in Agricultural Grapevines

Grapevine leafroll disease (GLD) is a globally spreading viral infection that causes major economic losses by reducing crop yield, plant longevity, and berry quality, with no effective treatment. Grapevine leafroll associated virus-3 (GLRaV-3) is the most severe, prevalent GLD strain affecting wine production. Here, the ability of RNA interference (RNAi), a non-GMO gene-silencing pathway, to treat GLRaV-3 in infected Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines is evaluated. Lipid-modified polyethylenimine (lmPEI) is synthesized as the carrier for long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA, 250-bp-long) that targets RNA polymerase and coat protein is a gene target that are conserved in the GLRaV-3 genome. Self-assembled dsRNA–lmPEI particles, 220 nm in diameter, display inner ordered domains spaced 7.3 ± 2 nm from one another, correlating to lmPEI wrapping spirally around the dsRNA. The particles effectively protect RNA from degradation by ribonucleases and show to increase uptake rate into plant cells as a result of the lipid component comprising the RNA carrier. In three field experiments, a single dose of foliar sprayed treatment of the RNA-particles knocks down GLRaV-3 titer, and multiple doses of the treatment keep the viral titer at baseline and trigger recovery of the vine and berries. This study demonstrates RNAi as a promising platform for treating viral diseases in agriculture.     

Risk analysis and prediction in welfare institutions using a recommender system

Recommender systems are recently developed computer-assisted tools that support social and informational needs of various communities and help users exploit huge amounts of data for making optimal decisions. In this study, we present a new recommender system for assessment and risk prediction in child welfare institutions in Israel. The system exploits a large diachronic repository of manually completed questionnaires on functioning of welfare institutions and proposes two different rule-based computational models. The system accepts users’ requests via a simple graphical interface, calculates the institutions’ profiles according to user preferences, and presents assessment scores, trends and comparative analyses of the corresponding data using assorted visual aids. Based on the analysis, the system offers three different strategies for objective assessment of the institutions’ functioning and risks. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the system’s effectiveness and accuracy demonstrates that it substantially improves the assessment process of a welfare institution. Moreover, it provides an effective tool for objective large-scale analysis of the institution’s overall state and trends, which were previously based primarily on the institution supervisors’ subjective judgment and intuition. In addition, the proposed recommender system has great practical and social impact as it may help identify and avert potential problems, malfunctions, flaws, risks and even tragic incidents in child welfare institutions, as well as increase their overall functioning levels. As a result, as a long-term social implication, the system may also help reduce inequality and social gaps in the Israeli society.     

Guanine‐Based Biogenic Photonic‐Crystal Arrays in Fish and Spiders

Biological photonic systems composed of anhydrous guanine crystals evolved separately in several taxonomic groups. Here, two such systems found in fish and spiders, both of which make use of anhydrous guanine crystal plates to produce structural colors, are examined. Measurements of the photonic‐crystal structures using cryo‐SEM show that the crystal plates in both fish skin and spider integument are ～20‐nm thick. The reflective unit in the fish comprises stacks of single plates alternating with ～230‐nm‐thick cytoplasm layers. In the spiders the plates are formed as doublet crystals, cemented by 30‐nm layers of amorphous guanine, and are stacked with ～200 nm of cytoplasm between crystal doublets. They achieve light reflective properties through the control of crystal morphology and stack dimensions, reaching similar efficiencies of light reflectivity in both fish skin and spider integument. The structure of guanine plates in spiders are compared with the more common situation in which guanine occurs in the form of relatively unorganized prismatic crystals, yielding a matt white coloration.     

Residual porosity and optical properties of spark plasma sintered transparent polycrystalline cerium-doped YAG

Transparent cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Ce:YAG) phosphors are promising candidates for high-power white light emitting diode applications. In the present study, Ce:YAG powder was synthesized by a co-precipitation method and highly transparent ceramics were fabricated by spark plasma sintering. The effects of temperature and pressure, as well as post-sintering treatments (annealing or hot isostatic pressing), on residual porosity were studied by electron and confocal laser microscopy. Correlation between residual porosity characteristics (pore size and volume fraction) and optical properties (in-line transmittance and photoluminescence intensity) of the luminescent transparent ceramics was established.     

Sound scattering by free surface piercing and fluid-loaded cylindrical shells

A vertical flexible, thin, cylindrical shell is considered to be clamped to a rigid base in shallow water and piercing its surface. The shell is composed of an isotropic and homogeneous material and may be empty inside or filled with compressible fluid. Linear acoustics and structural dynamics are used to model sound scattering caused by an external incident sound wave. A solution is derived using a Fourier transform in the tangential and vertical directions. A collocation technique coupled with an orthogonalization procedure is used to account for the edge conditions of the shell. It is shown that zero sound scattering, indicating acoustic invisibility, is theoretically attainable and can be achieved when a continuous distribution of an oscillating pressure load is applied on the shell's wall. Similarly, zero sound transmission into the shell's inner fluid can also be considered. The possibility of using a pre-determined discrete distribution of the applied pressure load is also discussed. The derived equations are numerically solved to examine sound scattering by a thin aluminium shell in shallow water.     

An instance and variable selection approach in pixel-based classification for automatic white blood cells segmentation

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Instance and variable selection involve identifying a subset of instances and variables such that the learning process will use only this subset with better...