Search results for "BST"

Stability of stationary solutions in models of the Calvin cycle

2017

Abstract In this paper results are obtained concerning the number of positive stationary solutions in simple models of the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis and the stability of these solutions. It is proved that there are open sets of parameters in the model of Zhu et al. (2009) for which there exist two positive stationary solutions. There are never more than two isolated positive stationary solutions but under certain explicit special conditions on the parameters there is a whole continuum of positive stationary solutions. It is also shown that in the set of parameter values for which two isolated positive stationary solutions exist there is an open subset where one of the solutions is asym…

The most well kept secret, embryo culture media: a smart reveal from an expert.

2017

SWhybrid: A Hybrid-Parallel Framework for Large-Scale Protein Sequence Database Search

2017

Computer architectures continue to develop rapidly towards massively parallel and heterogeneous systems. Thus, easily extensible yet highly efficient parallelization approaches for a variety of platforms are urgently needed. In this paper, we present SWhybrid, a hybrid computing framework for large-scale biological sequence database search on heterogeneous computing environments with multi-core or many-core processing units (PUs) based on the Smith- Waterman (SW) algorithm. To incorporate a diverse set of PUs such as combinations of CPUs, GPUs and Xeon Phis, we abstract them as SIMD vector execution units with different number of lanes. We propose a machine model, associated with a unified …

Physiological Functions of the β-Site Amyloid Precursor Protein Cleaving Enzyme 1 and 2

2017

BACE1 was discovered as the β-secretase for initiating the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) at the β-secretase site, while its close homology BACE2 cleaves APP within the β-amyloid (Aβ) domain region and shows distinct cleavage preferences in vivo. Inhibition of BACE1 proteolytic activity has been confirmed to decrease Aβ generation and amyloid deposition, and thus specific inhibition of BACE1 by small molecules is a current focus for Alzheimer’s disease therapy. While BACE1 inhibitors are being tested in advanced clinical trials, knowledge regarding the properties and physiological functions of BACE is highly important and this review summarizes advancements in BACE1 research ov…

Selective α-synuclein knockdown in monoamine neurons by intranasal oligonucleotide delivery: potential therapy for parkinson’s disease

2018

Progressive neuronal death in brainstem nuclei and widespread accumulation of α-synuclein are neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Reduction of α-synuclein levels is therefore a potential therapy for PD. However, because α-synuclein is essential for neuronal development and function, α-synuclein elimination would dramatically impact brain function. We previously developed conjugated small interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences that selectively target serotonin (5-HT) or norepinephrine (NE) neurons after intranasal administration. Here, we used this strategy to conjugate inhibitory oligonucleotides, siRNA and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), with the triple monoamine reuptake …

The use of morphokinetic as a predictor of implantation.

2017

In recent years the increased efforts intended for improving future outcomes in the laboratory have focused mostly on the search of additional markers of embryo quality to add up present embryo selection criteria. Time-lapse system involves an alternative tool in assisted reproduction techniques, being able to improve the embryo selection from a dynamic and interactive approach while standard embryo assessment implies a subjective and static morphology evaluation and consequently reducing the information gained for embryo selection, time-lapse technology adds several morphokinetic parameters, providing additional input for embryo evaluation. This further information represents a challenge f…

Antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic activity of melatonin analogues on melanoma and breast cancer cells

2017

// Giuliana Gatti 1, * , Valeria Lucini 2, * , Silvana Dugnani 2 , Angela Calastretti 1 , Gilberto Spadoni 3 , Annalida Bedini 3 , Silvia Rivara 4 , Marco Mor 4 , Gianfranco Canti 1 , Francesco Scaglione 2 and Annamaria Bevilacqua 1 1 Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy 2 Department of Oncology and Hemato-oncology, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy 3 Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Universita degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Urbino, Italy 4 Department of Food and Drug, Universita degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy * Authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Annamaria Bevilacqua, e…

Blocking oestradiol synthesis pathways with potent and selective coumarin derivatives

2018

A comprehensive set of 3-phenylcoumarin analogues with polar substituents was synthesised for blocking oestradiol synthesis by 17-b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (HSD1) in the latter part of the sulphatase pathway. Five analogues produced 62% HSD1 inhibition at 5 mM and, furthermore, three of them produced 68% inhibition at 1 mM. A docking-based structure-activity relationship analysis was done to determine the molecular basis of the inhibition and the cross-reactivity of the analogues was tested against oestrogen receptor, aromatase, cytochrome P450 1A2, and monoamine oxidases. Most of the analogues are only modestly active with 17-b-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 – a requirement for lowe…

An Integrative Framework for the Construction of Big Functional Networks

2018

We present a methodology for biological data integration, aiming at building and analysing large functional networks which model complex genotype-phenotype associations. A functional network is a graph where nodes represent cellular components (e.g., genes, proteins, mRNA, etc.) and edges represent associations among such molecules. Different types of components may cohesist in the same network, and associations may be related to physical[biochemical interactions or functional/phenotipic relationships. Due to both the large amount of involved information and the computational complexity typical of the problems in this domain, the proposed framework is based on big data technologies (Spark a…

2018

The origin of substrate preference in promiscuous enzymes was investigated by enzyme isotope labelling of the alcohol dehydrogenase from Geobacillus stearothermophilus (BsADH). At physiological temperature, protein dynamic coupling to the reaction coordinate was insignificant. However, the extent of dynamic coupling was highly substrate-dependent at lower temperatures. For benzyl alcohol, an enzyme isotope effect larger than unity was observed, whereas the enzyme isotope effect was close to unity for isopropanol. Frequency motion analysis on the transition states revealed that residues surrounding the active site undergo substantial displacement during catalysis for sterically bulky alcohol…