A new species and the phylogeny of the South American genus Gromphas Brullé, 1837 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Phanaeini)

Gromphas jardim Cupello & Vaz-de-Mello sp. nov. is described from Bolivia and Central Brazil and is endemic to the biogeographic province of Rondônia. It resembles Gromphas amazonica and Gromphas inermis, but is distinguished primarily by the pattern of pronotal granulation and the form of the apical tubercle of male protibiae, which is modified in a tapered spur. Based on 31 morphological characters, a phylogenetic analysis returned a single most parsimonious tree where Gromphas is monophyletic and has the following internal topology: ((G. aeruginosa + G. lemoinei) (G. dichroa (G. inermis (G. amazonica + G. jardim)))).     

Rad51 and DNA-PKcs are involved in the generation of specific telomere aberrations induced by the quadruplex ligand 360A that impair mitotic cell progression and lead to cell death

Functional telomeres are protected from non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair pathways. Replication is a critical period for telomeres because of the requirement for reconstitution of functional protected telomere conformations, a process that involves DNA repair proteins. Using knockdown of DNA-PKcs and Rad51 expression in three different cell lines, we demonstrate the respective involvement of NHEJ and HR in the formation of telomere aberrations induced by the G-quadruplex ligand 360A during or after replication. HR contributed to specific chromatid-type aberrations (telomere losses and doublets) affecting the lagging strand telomeres, whereas DNA-PKcs-dependent NHEJ was responsible for sister telomere fusions as a direct consequence of G-quadruplex formation and/or stabilization induced by 360A on parental telomere G strands. NHEJ and HR activation at telomeres altered mitotic progression in treated cells. In particular, NHEJ-mediated sister telomere fusions were associated with altered metaphase-anaphase transition and anaphase bridges and resulted in cell death during mitosis or early G1. Collectively, these data elucidate specific molecular and cellular mechanisms triggered by telomere targeting by the G-quadruplex ligand 360A, leading to cancer cell death.     

Proliferation status defines functional properties of endothelial cells

Homeostasis of solid tissue is characterized by a low proliferative activity of differentiated cells while special conditions like tissue damage induce regeneration and proliferation. For some cell types it has been shown that various tissue-specific functions are missing in the proliferating state, raising the possibility that their proliferation is not compatible with a fully differentiated state. While endothelial cells are important players in regenerating tissue as well as in the vascularization of tumors, the impact of proliferation on their features remains elusive. To examine cell features in dependence of proliferation, we established human endothelial cell lines in which proliferation is tightly controlled by a doxycycline-dependent, synthetic regulatory unit. We observed that uptake of macromolecules and establishment of cell–cell contacts was more pronounced in the growth-arrested state. Tube-like structures were formed in vitro in both proliferating and non-proliferating conditions. However, functional vessel formation upon transplantation into immune-compromised mice was restricted to the proliferative state. Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) infection resulted in reduced expression of endothelial markers. Upon transplantation of infected cells, drastic differences were observed: proliferation arrested cells acquired a high migratory activity while the proliferating counterparts established a tumor-like phenotype, similar to Kaposi Sarcoma lesions. The study gives evidence that proliferation governs endothelial functions. This suggests that several endothelial functions are differentially expressed during angiogenesis. Moreover, since proliferation defines the functional properties of cells upon infection with KSHV, this process crucially affects the fate of virus-infected cells.     

Predictability of Plastic Parts Behaviour Made from Rapid Manufacturing

One of the most important issues to resolve in parts manufactured from rapid manufacturing (RM) technologies is to know their behavior working under real conditions. Total quality manufacturing (TQM) is only possible if mechanical properties are well known in the design stage depending on the processing parameters. This work is mainly focused on testing of several samples made with different selective laser sintering (SLS) parameters and technologies. This procedure is the starting point to establish a basis for designing for RM and the standardization of RM testing. The experiments and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyzed the effects of several factors on mechanical properties. The SLS technologies were 3DSystem and EOS. The results show which factor has a large effect on the variables and the interaction between them. The conclusions are very useful for developing rules for designing (designing for RM) and creating new standard rules (ISO, AISI, and DIN) for RM materials and parts testing. The ANOVA gives a better knowledge of the effects of these factors and eliminates unimportant parameters.     

Training Load Monitoring Algorithms on Highly Sub-Metered Home Electricity Consumption Data

The growing interest in energy-efficient buildings is driving changes in investment, design, and occupant behavior. To better focus cost and resource conservation efforts, electricity consumption feedback can be used to provide motivation, guidance, and verification. Disaggregating by end-use helps both consumers and producers to identify targets for conservation. While hardware-based sub-metering is costly and labor-intensive, non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) is capable of gathering detailed energy-use data with minimal equipment cost and installation time. However, variations in measurements between metering devices complicate the process of compiling the necessary appliance profiles. Future work involves the devel-opment of NILM algorithms using sensor fusion and detailed appliance-level data gathered from a highly-sensed house currently being constructed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.     

NADP-isocitric dehydrogenase of gerbil adrenal mitochondria: Support of steroid hydroxylation

Summary In gerbil adrenal cortex the activity of intramitochondrial NADP-linked isocitric dehydrogenase (IDH) is up to 10-fold greater than the NAD-linked IDH. The NADP-IDH, apparent K_m 0.58 mM, V_max 280 nmoles/min/mg mitochondrial protein, appears to be the major source of reducing equivalents to support adrenal mitochondrial steroid 11B- and 19-hydroxylation in this species.     

NADP-isocitric dehydrogenase of gerbil adrenal mitochondria: support of steroid hydroxylation

In gerbil adrenal cortex the activity of intramitochondrial NADP-linked isocitric dehydrogenase (IDH) is up to 10-fold greater than the NAD-linked IDH. The NADP-IDH, apparent Km 0.58 mM, Vmax 280 nmoles/min/mg mitochondrial protein, appears to be the major source of reducing equivalents to support adrenal mitochondrial steroid 11B- and 19-hydroxylation in this species.     

Distinction entre les variations phénotypiques sexuelles et génétiques chez le Rat,par l'analyse immunoélectrophorétique des protéines urinaires spécifiques

Summary We show that phenotypical variations of rat urinary proteins are either sex-linked (variations at the rho-uroprotein and major urinary protein level) or related to the genetic purity (variations at the -uroprotein level).

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Travail subventionné par l'octroi n 362-10 du Conseil des Recherches médicales du Canada.     

Functional connectivity in the retina at the resolution of photoreceptors

To understand a neural circuit requires knowledge of its connectivity. Here we report measurements of functional connectivity between the input and ouput layers of the macaque retina at single-cell resolution and the implications of these for colour vision. Multi-electrode technology was used to record simultaneously from complete populations of the retinal ganglion cell types (midget, parasol and small bistratified) that transmit high-resolution visual signals to the brain. Fine-grained visual stimulation was used to identify the location, type and strength of the functional input of each cone photoreceptor to each ganglion cell. The populations of ON and OFF midget and parasol cells each sampled the complete population of long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive cones. However, only OFF midget cells frequently received strong input from short-wavelength-sensitive cones. ON and OFF midget cells showed a small non-random tendency to selectively sample from either long- or middle-wavelength-sensitive cones to a degree not explained by clumping in the cone mosaic. These measurements reveal computations in a neural circuit at the elementary resolution of individual neurons.