Search results for "GRAS"

Responses of above- and below-ground fungal symbionts to cessation of mowing in subalpine grassland

2017

Abstract The cessation of mowing in subalpine grasslands promotes the dominance of Festuca paniculata leading to the reduction in plant diversity. Moreover, it affects positively the abundance of Epichloe sp. inhabiting F. paniculata leaves and negatively the soil density of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). We explored how the cessation of mowing influences root AMF communities in F. paniculata and the neighboring plants, and Epichloe sp alkaloids. Thirteen AMF operational taxonomical units were found. The neighboring plants affected positively the abundances of Aalpin and GLOM_7 whereas the interaction plant/management type influenced significantly Claroide_1 , GLOM_1 and GLOM_7 . The N…

Metaheuristic procedures for the lexicographic bottleneck assembly line balancing problem

2015

The goal of this work is to develop an improved procedure for the solution of the lexicographic bottleneck variant of the assembly line balancing problem (LB-ALBP). The objective of the LB-ALBP is to minimize the workload of the most heavily loaded workstation, followed by the workload of the second most heavily loaded workstation and so on. This problem-recently introduced to the literature (Pastor, 2011)-has practical relevance to manufacturing facilities. We design, implement and fine-tune GRASP, tabu search (TS) and scatter search (SS) heuristics for the LB-ALBP and show that our procedures are able to obtain solutions of a quality that outperforms previous approaches. We rely on both s…

GRASP and tabu search for the generalized dispersion problem

2021

Abstract The problem of maximizing dispersion requires the selection of a specific number of elements from a given set, in such a way that the minimum distance between the pairs of selected elements is maximized. In recent years, this problem has received a lot of attention and has been solved with many complex heuristics. However, there is a recent variant in which the selected elements have to satisfy two realistic constraints, a minimum capacity limit and a maximum budget, which in spite of its practical significance in facility location, has received little attention. In this paper, we first propose mathematical models to obtain the optimal solution of small- and medium-size instances, …

Variable neighborhood descent for the incremental graph drawing

2017

Abstract Graphs are used to represent reality in several areas of knowledge. Drawings of graphs have many applications, from project scheduling to software diagrams. The main quality desired for drawings of graphs is readability, and crossing reduction is a fundamental aesthetic criterion for a good representation of a graph. In this paper we target the edge crossing reduction in the context of incremental graph drawing, in which we want to preserve the layout of a graph over successive drawings. We propose a hybrid method based on the GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) and VND (Variable Neighborhood Descent) methodologies and compare it with previous methods via simulation.

Efficacy and effectiveness of sublingual immunotherapy for grass pollen allergy: Reply to the letter of Marcucci F

2016

Development of a sensory tool to assess overall liking for the fatty, salty and sweet sensations

2016

Abstract Understanding the origin of the overconsumption of too high levels of sucrose, sodium chloride and lipids in foods raises the question of the influence of the hedonics for these sensations. To better understand this relationship, a sensory tool that enables measurement of liking towards sweet, salty or fatty sensations is required. This liking towards a sensation has to be understood as an overall attractiveness of the sensation. Instruments already existing were unsatisfactory as including a limited number of foods not representative of the overall sensation. A set of hedonic tests, named PrefSens, was developed to measure an overall liking for fatty, salty or sweet sensations. Ea…

Ticket to Ride: Targeting Proteins to Exosomes for Brain Delivery.

2017

Exosomes represent an attractive vehicle for the delivery of biomolecules. However, mechanisms for loading functional molecules into exosomes are relatively unexplored. Here we report the use of the evolutionarily conserved late-domain (L-domain) pathway as a mechanism for loading exogenous proteins into exosomes. We demonstrate that labeling of a target protein, Cre recombinase, with a WW tag leads to recognition by the L-domain-containing protein Ndfip1, resulting in ubiquitination and loading into exosomes. Our results show that Ndfip1 expression acts as a molecular switch for exosomal packaging of WW-Cre that can be suppressed using the exosome inhibitor GW4869. When taken up by floxed …

Exotic Halophila stipulacea is an introduced carbon sink for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

2018

AbstractCarbon and nitrogen storage in exotic Halophila stipulacea were compared to that in native Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa meadows and adjacent unvegetated sediments of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and to that in native H. stipulacea of the Red Sea at sites with different biogeochemical conditions and level of human pressure. Exotic H. stipulacea possessed considerable storing capacity, with 2-fold higher Corg stock (0.71 ± 0.05 kg m−2 in the top 20 cm of sediment) and burial (14.78 gCorg m−2 y−1) than unvegetated areas and C. nodosa meadows and, surprisingly, comparable to P. oceanica. N (0.07 ± 0.01 kg m−2) and Cinorg (14.06 ± 8.02 kg m−2) stocks were similar between H. s…

HMG-CoA reductase promotes protein prenylation and therefore is indispensible for T-cell survival.

2017

AbstractStatins are a well-established family of drugs that lower cholesterol levels via the competitive inhibition of the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR). In addition, the pleiotropic anti-inflammatory effects of statins on T cells make them attractive as therapeutic drugs in T-cell-driven autoimmune disorders. Since statins do not exclusively target HMGCR and thus might have varying effects on different cell types, we generated a new mouse strain allowing for the tissue-specific deletion of HMGCR. Deletion of HMGCR expression in T cells led to a severe decrease in their numbers with the remaining cells displaying an activated phenotype, with an increased pro…

Genome-Wide Association Study for Serum Omega-3 and Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: Exploratory Analysis of the Sex-Specific Effects and Dietary…

2020

Many early studies presented beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on cardiovascular risk factors and disease. However, results from recent meta-analyses indicate that this effect would be very low or nil. One of the factors that may contribute to the inconsistency of the results is that, in most studies, genetic factors have not been taken into consideration. It is known that fatty acid desaturase (FADS) gene cluster in chromosome 11 is a very important determinant of plasma PUFA, and that the prevalence of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) varies greatly between populations and may constitute a bias in meta-analyses. Previous genome-wide association studies (GW…