Yeast exo-β-glucanases can be used as efficient and readily detectable reporter genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Yeast exo-1,3-β-glucanases are secretable proteins whose function is basically trophic and may also be involved in cell wall glucan hydrolytic processes. Since fluorescein di(β-D -glucopyranoside) is a fluorogenic substrate detectable and quantifiable by flow cytometry, it was used for testing the ability of the EXG1 gene product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its homologous gene in Candida albicans to function as reporter genes. These open reading frames were coupled to different promoters in multicopy plasmids, and exoglucanase activity quantified at flow cytometry. Exoglucanases were found to be useful tools for the study of promoter regions in S. cerevisiae. This technique has the advantage over other reporter gene systems—such as β-galactosidase fusions—that it does not require permeabilization of yeast cells and therefore it allows the recovery of viable cells—by sorting—after flow cytometry analysis.     

Malacoplakia of the prostate and seminal vesicle. Ultrastructural study and review of the literature

OBJECTIVES: The present study describes a case of malacoplakia of the genitourinary tract arising in the seminal vesicle and prostate and reviews similar cases previously reported in the literature. METHOD: A 67-year-old male consulted for hemospermia and voiding symptoms. Prostatic neoplasm was suspected on the basis of the clinical and radiological findings. RESULTS: The diagnosis was made only after biopsy and histological analysis. Electron microscopy is a very useful tool. Long-term antibiotic therapy may achieve optimal results. Treatment with fluoroquinolones was successful. CONCLUSION: To avoid unwarranted radical approaches, we underscore the possibility that prostatic pseudotumors may be misinterpreted as neoplasia. Malacoplakia is diagnosed only by histology and requires medical treatment.     

Equilibrium distribution of water in the two-phase system supercritical carbon dioxide–textile

When natural fibres are dyed in supercritical carbon dioxide, the addition of a small amount of water increases coloration. For a process design it is important to know how much water has to be added to obtain a desired humidity of both textile and carbon dioxide. In this work a thermodynamic model is proposed to calculate the distribution of water over the textile phase and the supercritical phase as a function of pressure and temperature. The phase equilibrium is described with Raoult's law for non-ideal fluids. The absorbed water in the textile is a condensed phase and is modelled here as a non-ideal liquid, using the NRTL-equation. The non-ideality of the supercritical phase is described by a solubility enhancement factor, a new equation derived from statistical thermodynamics. Although the model is applied to cotton, viscose, silk and wool, it can be used for all water absorbing textiles.     

MMP1 and MMP11 Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells upon Their Interaction with Breast Cancer Cells and Fibroblasts

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells phenotype is associated with tumor progression. However, little is known about the phenotype of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from breast cancer patients. We investigated MMP1 and MMP11 expression in PBMC from breast cancer patients and we analyzed gene expression changes upon their interaction with cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). We measured the impact of PBMC on proinflammatory gene expression in breast cancer cells, normal fibroblast (NF), and CAF and the impact on proliferation and invasiveness capacity of breast cancer cells. Gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 in PBMC from breast cancer patients (n = 54) and control (n = 28); expression of IL1A, IL6, IL17, IFNβ, and NFĸB in breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231); and, additionally, IL10 and MMP11 in CAF and NF were analyzed by qRT-PCR before and after co-culture. Our results show the existence of a subpopulation of breast cancer patients (25.9%) with very high levels of MMP11 gene expression in PBMC. Also, gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 increases in PBMC after co-culture with breast cancer cell lines, NF or CAF. PBMC from healthy or breast cancer patients induce an increased proliferation rate on MCF-7 and an increased invasiveness capacity of MDA-MB-231. Finally, we show a differential expression profile of inflammatory genes in NF and CAF when co-cultured with control or breast cancer PBMC. We have observed that MMPs’ expression in PBMC is regulated by the microenvironment, while the expression of inflammatory genes in NF or CAF is differentially regulated by PBMC. These findings confirm the importance of the crosstalk between stromal cells and suggest that PBMC would play a role in promoting aggressive tumor behavior.     

Influence of partial replacement of NaCl with KCl on lipid fraction of dry fermented sausages inoculated with a mixture of Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus carnosus

The effect of partial replacement of NaCl (3% NaCl) with KCl (1.5% NaCl and 1% KCl) on the lipid fraction of dry fermented sausages inoculated with Lactobacillus plantarum and Staphylococcus carnosus as starter culture was analysed. The reduction in salt concentration did not affect the Micrococcaceae count. A positive effect on the intensity of lipolytic activity was observed as a consequence of the decrease in salt level. There was no decrease in the oxidative processes. The higher amounts of volatile fatty acids found suggest that the tested modification enhances some of their mechanisms of synthesis.     

Nonlinear optoelectronic materials formed by push–pull (bi)thiophene derivatives functionalized with di(tri)cyanovinyl acceptor groups

Novel nonlinear optical (NLO) materials based on six novel NLO chromophores featuring di(tri)cyanovinyl acceptor linked to (bi)thiophene heterocyclic donor system were fabricated for the first time in polymethyl methacrylate matrices with a 1,064 nm laser working in the 20 ns time pulse regime. Absorption spectra and DFT calculations were also done. This multidisciplinary study showed that tayloring of the optical (linear and nonlinear) properties in the desired direction can be achieved by increasing the length of the π-conjugated heterocyclic system (thiophene vs. bithiophene), the strength of the electron donor groups (H → MeO/EtO → Et₂N) as well as the strength of the electron acceptor moieties (dicyanovinyl vs. tricyanovinyl, two vs. three electron withdrawing cyano groups). Due to the relatively high and tunable second-order susceptibilities (0.08–6.45 pm/V at wavelength 1,064 nm), the studied push–pull chromophores can be denoted as promising second-order NLO chromophores.     

A hybrid model for a multiproduct pipeline planning and scheduling problem

Brazilian petrobras is one of the world largest oil companies. Recurrently, it faces a very difficult planning and scheduling problem: how to operate a large pipeline network in order to adequately transport oil derivatives and biofuels from refineries to local markets. In spite of being more economical and environmentally safer, the use of a complex pipeline network poses serious operational difficulties related to resource allocation and temporal constraints. The current approaches known from the literature only consider a few types of constraints and restricted topologies, hence they are far from being applicable to real instances from petrobras. We propose a hybrid framework based on a two-phase problem decomposition strategy. A novel Constraint Programming (CP) model plays a key role in modelling operational constraints that are usually overlooked in literature, but that are essential in order to guarantee viable solutions. The full strategy was implemented and produced very adequate results when tested over large real instances.     

A note on characterizing canonical cuts using geometry

In this technical note we introduce a set of cuts for 0–1 integer programming with a strong geometrical flavor. These are the spherical and cylindrical inequalities. We show that the geometrical cuts are in one‐to‐one correspondence with the canonical cuts introduced by Balas and Jeroslow. Moreover, we show how the well‐known subtour elimination constraints for the Traveling Salesman Problem can be obtained via geometrical cuts. By presenting the subtour elimination constraints in this way, we give another easy and intuitive way to explain the validity of such inequalities. We show that the arguments used to derive the subtour elimination constraint as geometrical cut can be repeated to derive strong valid inequalities that are known for other combinatorial optimization problems.