Search results for " DEGRADATION"
showing 10 items of 510 documents
Water-saving techniques for restoring desertified lands: some lessons from the field
2022
Nature-based solutions can significantly contribute to restoration projects in areas affected by desertification processes, where they are necessary for reversing land degradation. Currently, one innovative solution is The Cocoon™, which has been designed as a new ecotechnology for improving seedling establishment. The Cocoon consists of a doughnut-shaped container made of recycled cardboard that provides water and shelter at least during the first year of a seedling, which is the most critical for plant establishment. To determine the effectiveness of this ecotechnology under different conditions, the Cocoon was tested on a variety of soils, climates, vegetation, and land uses. Six plantin…
Influence of photo-oxidation on the performance and soil degradation of oxo- and biodegradable polymer-based items for agricultural applications
2021
Abstract The examination of the aging behavior of polymers, blends, composites, items, etc. under different environmental conditions is a priority issue for assessing the possible applications and establishing the lifetime. In agriculture, plastic items (mulch films, irrigation tubes, etc.) are widely used and subjected to solar UV exposure that can induce photo-oxidation on macromolecular chains. Therefore, weathering under outdoor conditions and accelerated degradation tests are performed for simulating aging processes during the lifetime of materials and select appropriate stabilizers to be used. In the last decades, oxo- and biodegradable polymers have been investigated and used in agri…
Monitoring Soil Salinisation as a Strategy for Preventing Land Degradation: A Case Study in Sicily, Italy
2010
Water demand is increasing worldwide. In regions affected by water scarcity such as those located in the Mediterranean basin, water supplies are already degraded, or subjected to degradation processes, which worsen the water shortage. In Sicily, the increasing scarcity of good quality water is expanding irrigation with saline-sodic waters, thus enhancing the risk of secondary salinization and sodification. Adequate management practices are urgently needed for sustainable use of saline/sodic waters. This chapter illustrates how the Geonics EM-38 probe was used for monitoring salinization in a Sicilian area where irrigation with saline water is increasingly practiced, and the risk of salinisa…
Proteomic Analyses Reveal an Acidic Prime Side Specificity for the Astacin Metalloprotease Family Reflected by Physiological Substrates
2011
Astacins are secreted and membrane-bound metalloproteases with clear associations to many important pathological and physiological processes. Yet with only a few substrates described their biological roles are enigmatic. Moreover, the lack of knowledge of astacin cleavage site specificities hampers assay and drug development. Using PICS (proteomic identification of protease cleavage site specificity) and TAILS (terminal amine isotopic labeling of substrates) degradomics approaches >3000 cleavage sites were proteomically identified for five different astacins. Such broad coverage enables family-wide determination of specificities N- and C-terminal to the scissile peptide bond. Remarkably, me…
Augmented Reality Applications in the Transition Towards the Sustainable Organization
2016
Business companies are increasingly aware that the world where they operate in is facing increasing environmental, economic and social challenges, thus there is a trend in most companies to align their processes and services with a sustainability agenda. Customers, shareholders, financial partners, governmental agencies, NGOs, globalization and internationalization of environmental and social standards exert new pressures on them to do so. Industry is widely recognized as being essential for wealth creation and development, although it is at times considered a source of environmental degradation and social concerns. Thus, industry must play an important role for the transition towards the s…
Thermal degradation of long-chain polyunsatured fatty acids during deodorization of fish oil
2006
International audience; Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) of the n-3 series, particularly eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acid, have specific activities especially in the functionality of the central nervous system. Due to the occurrence of numerous methylene-interrupted ethylenic double bonds, these fatty acids are very sensitive to air (oxygen) and temperature. Non-volatile degradation products, which include polymers, cyclic fatty acid monomers (CFAM) and geometrical isomers of EPA and DHA, were evaluated in fish oil samples obtained by deodorization under vacuum of semi-refined fish oil at 180, 220 and 250 °C. Polymers are the major degradation products g…
The (Evolving) vineyard’s age structure in the valencian community, Spain. A new demographic approach for rural development and landscape analysis
2019
Vineyards have assumed a key role as rural landmarks in recent decades. Investigating vineyard dynamics and contexts may reveal various economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of rural landscapes, which can be linked to land-use changes and major soil degradation processes, including soil erosion. As a contribution to rural landscape studies, the purpose of this work is to investigate the spatial distribution of vineyard plots in the Valencian community, located in the eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the final product, the type of vineyard and how long each vineyard has been settled over time. The work provides a comprehensive analysis of a wine-growing landscape, c…
Identification of major histocompatibility complex class II-associated peptides derived from freshly prepared rat Langerhans cells using MALDI-PSD an…
2000
The isolation and identification is described of MHC class II-bound peptides derived from Langerhans cells. A combination of preparative micro-HPLC, MALDI-MS, Edman degradation was used for determining the amino acid sequence of MHC-associated peptides. Sample handling was crucial because fractions containing trace amounts of material require immediate storage at −80 °C to prevent peptide losses.
Selective uptake and degradation of c-Fos and v-Fos by rat liver lysosomes
1996
AbstractThe transcription factor c-Fos is a short-lived protein and calpains and ubiquitin-dependent systems have been proposed to be involved in its degradation. In this report, we consider a lysosomal degradation pathway for c-Fos. Using a cell-free assay, we have found that freshly isolated lysosomes can take up and degrade c-Fos with high efficiency. v-Fos, the oncogenic counterpart of c-Fos, can also be taken up by lysosomes, yet the amount of incorporated protein is much lower. c-Fos uptake is independent of its phosphorylation state but it appears to be regulated by dimerization with differentially phosphorylated forms of c-Jun, while v-Fos escapes this regulation. Moreover, we show …
The degradation of intracrystalline mollusc shell proteins: a proteomics study of Spondylus gaederopus.
2021
Mollusc shells represent excellent systems for the preservation and retrieval of genuine biomolecules from archaeological or palaeontological samples. As a consequence, the post-mortem breakdown of intracrystalline mollusc shell proteins has been extensively investigated, particularly with regard to its potential use as a "molecular clock" for geochronological applications. But despite seventy years of ancient protein research, the fundamental aspects of diagenesis-induced changes to protein structures and sequences remain elusive. In this study we investigate the degradation of intracrystalline proteins by performing artificial degradation experiments on the shell of the thorny oyster, Spo…