Search results for "FALC"
showing 10 items of 200 documents
Social phenotype extended to communities: expanded multilevel social selection analysis reveals fitness consequences of interspecific interactions.
2014
In social species, fitness consequences are associated with both individual and social phenotypes. Social selection analysis has quantified the contribution of conspecific social traits to individual fitness. There has been no attempt, however, to apply a social selection approach to quantify the fitness implications of heterospecific social phenotypes. Here, we propose a novel social selection based approach integrating the role of all social interactions at the community level. We extended multilevel selection analysis by including a term accounting for the group phenotype of heterospecifics. We analyzed nest activity as a model social trait common to two species, the lesser kestrel (Falc…
Una grottesca «fantocciata»:dissonanze pirandelliane nella scrittura di Laura Di Falco
2019
A grotesque "puppet": Pirandello's dissonances in the writing of Laura Di Falco Laura Di Falco's novel, Le tre mogli (The Three Wives), published by Rizzoli in 1967, sinks in to the Sicilian literary tradition which, as Natale Tedesco writes, condenses the investigation of disturbances of the conscience and of epochal disturbances into the "essayistic-reflexive" figure, of which Luigi Pirandello proves to be an exemplary interpreter. The fiction leaks in the capillary fabric of social, institutional and affective relationships of a world that the narrative shows in the form of a grotesque "puppet", corroding its conventions from inside, alienating its features and dramatising its contradict…
Prenylated Flavonoids from the Roots of Tephrosia rhodesica
2020
Five new compounds—rhodimer (1), rhodiflavan A (2), rhodiflavan B (3), rhodiflavan C (4), and rhodacarpin (5)—along with 16 known secondary metabolites, were isolated from the CH2Cl2–CH3OH (1:1) extract of the roots of Tephrosia rhodesica. They were identified by NMR spectroscopic, mass spectrometric, X-ray crystallographic, and ECD spectroscopic analyses. The crude extract and the isolated compounds 2–5, 9, 15, and 21 showed activity (100% at 10 μg and IC50 = 5–15 μM) against the chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) strain of Plasmodium falciparum. peerReviewed
Unnatural amino acids increase activity and specificity of synthetic substrates for human and malarial cathepsin C
2014
Mammalian cathepsin C is primarily responsible for the removal of N-terminal dipeptides and activation of several serine proteases in inflammatory or immune cells, while its malarial parasite ortholog dipeptidyl aminopeptidase 1 plays a crucial role in catabolizing the hemoglobin of its host erythrocyte. In this report, we describe the systematic substrate specificity analysis of three cathepsin C orthologs from Homo sapiens (human), Bos taurus (bovine) and Plasmodium falciparum (malaria parasite). Here, we present a new approach with a tailored fluorogenic substrate library designed and synthesized to probe the S1 and S2 pocket preferences of these enzymes with both natural and a broad ran…
Aplicación de la topología molecular a la predicción de la actividad antimalárica de análogos de la 4-anilinoquinolina
2021
La malaria es una enfermedad parasitaria causada por protozoos del género Plasmodium y transmitida por vectores del género Anopheles . En 2019 esta enfermedad se cobró la vida de más de 400.000 personas, de las cuales un 94 % se concentraban en la región de África. Uno de los principales problemas en el control de la malaria es la aparición de resistencias frente a los diferentes fármacos que existen, es por ello que es necesario el desarrollo de alternativas antimaláricas eficaces. En este estudio se ha aplicado la topología molecular a una serie de compuestos análogos de la 4-anilinoquinolina con actividad inhibitoria de la proliferación de 3 cepas de Plasmodium falciparum, una sensibl…
New active drugs against liver stages of Plasmodium predicted by molecular topology.
2008
ABSTRACT We conducted a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study based on a database of 127 compounds previously tested against the liver stage of Plasmodium yoelii in order to develop a model capable of predicting the in vitro antimalarial activities of new compounds. Topological indices were used as structural descriptors, and their relation to antimalarial activity was determined by using linear discriminant analysis. A topological model consisting of two discriminant functions was created. The first function discriminated between active and inactive compounds, and the second identified the most active among the active compounds. The model was then applied sequentially t…
Helminth communities of owls (strigiformes) indicate strong biological and ecological differences from birds of prey (accipitriformes and falconiform…
2012
We compared the helminth communities of 5 owl species from Calabria (Italy) and evaluated the effect of phylogenetic and ecological factors on community structure. Two host taxonomic scales were considered, i.e., owl species, and owls vs. birds of prey. The latter scale was dealt with by comparing the data here obtained with that of birds of prey from the same locality and with those published previously on owls and birds of prey from Galicia (Spain). A total of 19 helminth taxa were found in owls from Calabria. Statistical comparison showed only marginal differences between scops owls (Otus scops) and little owls (Athene noctua) and tawny owls (Strix aluco). It would indicate that all owl …
Nest aggregation and reproductive synchrony promote Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni seasonal fitness
2013
Several factors promote coloniality by enhancing the fitness of colony members. In birds, spatial proximity among nests, breeder abundance and reproductive synchrony have been proposed as primary factors responsible for enhanced colonial defence and foraging success, which, in turn, enhance reproductive success. Whether these factors function synergistically or antagonistically remains, however, an open question due to the absence of an integrated analysis of their effects on fitness. We studied a large population of the Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni, a facultative colonial species, breeding in colonies of different sizes in their typical pseudo-steppe habitat. We quantified both the singu…
Delayed maturation in plumage colour: Evidence for the female-mimicry hypothesis in the kestrel
1993
In many sexually dichromatic species, young males have female-like plumage during their first potential breeding year. The female-mimicry hypothesis (FMH) supposes that by possessing female-like plumage young males deceive older conspicuous males into believing that they are females, thus reducing competition from adult males. The status-signalling hypothesis (SSH) supposes that adult males can distinguish sex, but postulates that young males reduce competition from adult males by reliably signaling low status with their dull plumage. We tested these hypotheses in the European kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Female-like young males settled to breed closer to adult males than did other adult ma…
Malaria resurgence risk in southern Europe: climate assessment in an historically endemic area of rice fields at the Mediterranean shore of Spain
2010
Abstract Background International travel and immigration have been related with an increase of imported malaria cases. This fact and climate change, prolonging the period favouring vector development, require an analysis of the malaria transmission resurgence risk in areas of southern Europe. Such a study is made for the first time in Spain. The Ebro Delta historically endemic area was selected due to its rice field landscape, the presence of only one vector, Anopheles atroparvus, with densities similar to those it presented when malaria was present, in a situation which pronouncedly differs from already assessed potential resurgence areas in other Mediterranean countries, such as France an…