U2 snRNA variants are differentially incorporated into spliceosomes

Jason A. SOMARELLI,Annia MESA,Shamayra S. SMAIL,Angel L. ARES,Rene J. HERRERA 한국곤충학회 2009 Entomological Research Vol.39 No.2

In this study, five U2 small nuclear (sn)RNA variants were detected in the posterior silk gland of the Bombyx mori Nistari strain, one of which represents a novel U2 isoform not previously identified in other strains of this species. Following glycerol gradient ultracentrifugation of B. mori silk gland whole cell lysate, the newly isolated variant, U2α, was detected at a greater frequency in total cell lysate than in a high density glycerol gradient fraction rich in spliceosomal complexes. Conversely, previously identified isoforms U2A, U2B, U2D and U2N are abundant in the fraction containing high molecular weight spliceosomal complexes, possibly indicating their greater involvement in splicing. As expected, western blot and semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction experiments indicate high levels of specific serine and arginine rich (SR) proteins and total U2 snRNA (all variants included) in the fraction enriched in spliceosomes. Free energy values for each U2 isoform, as well as their individual stem-loops, were estimated to determine their structural stability. Due to the essential role of U2 in the transesterification reactions, it is possible that these isoforms may modulate splicing through differential incorporation into the spliceosome.

Transcriptional and Mycolic Acid Profiling in Mycobacterium bovis BCG In Vitro Show an Effect for c-di-GMP and Overlap between Dormancy and Biofilms

Miguel A. De la Cruz,Miguel A. Ares,Diana Rodríguez-Valverde,Alba Adriana Vallejo-Cardona,Mario Alberto Flores-Valdez,Iris Denisse Cota Núñez,Michel de Jesús Aceves-Sánchez,Jonahtan Lira-Chávez,Jacobo 한국미생물·생명공학회 2020 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.30 No.6

Mycobacterium tuberculosis produces mycolic acids which are relevant for persistence, recalcitrance to antibiotics and defiance to host immunity. c-di-GMP is a second messenger involved in transition from planktonic cells to biofilms, whose levels are controlled by diguanylate cyclases (DGC) and phosphodiesterases (PDE). The transcriptional regulator dosR, is involved in response to low oxygen, a condition likely happening to a subset of cells within biofilms. Here, we found that in M. bovis BCG, expression of both BCG1416c and BCG1419c genes, which code for a DGC and a PDE, respectively, decreased in both stationary phase and during biofilm production. The kasA, kasB, and fas genes, which are involved in mycolic acid biosynthesis, were induced in biofilm cultures, as was dosR, therefore suggesting an inverse correlation in their expression compared with that of genes involved in c-di-GMP metabolism. The relative abundance within trehalose dimycolate (TDM) of α- mycolates decreased during biofilm maturation, with methoxy mycolates increasing over time, and keto species remaining practically stable. Moreover, addition of synthetic c-di-GMP to mid-log phase BCG cultures reduced methoxy mycolates, increased keto species and practically did not affect α-mycolates, showing a differential effect of c-di-GMP on keto- and methoxy-mycolic acid metabolism.

CATA and RATA questions for product-focused emotion research: Five case studies using emoji questionnaires

Jaeger, Sara R.,Lee, Soh Min,Kim, Kwang-Ok,Chheang, Sok L.,Roigard, Christina M.,Ares, Gastó,n Elsevier 2018 Food quality and preference Vol.68 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Questionnaires are popular in product-focused emotion research with consumers. Ease of implementation is paramount in this regard, as is versatility. In the presented studies, focus is directed to scaling variations as an element of methodological versatility, and a comparison is performed of CATA and RATA question formats (check-all-that-apply and rate-all-that-apply, respectively). Five studies, with a range of tasted products and food/beverage names were conducted, involving 908 consumers in New Zealand, China and Korea. Emoji questionnaires, recently established as a methodological variant in product-elicited emotion research, were used. The average percentage of emoji used for describing samples was similar for CATA and RATA questions when used in Central Location Tests with tasted samples, but higher for RATA than CATA questions in online surveys. Discriminative ability of CATA and RATA questions was linked to the characteristics of the focal samples. The recommendation for method choice is to use CATA emoji-questions when samples have distinct emotional associations, whereas RATA seems better able to discriminate between samples with more similar emotional profiles. Neither CATA nor RATA emoji-questions were regarded by consumers as difficult or tedious.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> CATA and RATA questions were compared using emoji questionnaires. </LI> <LI> In 3 of 5 studies the average percentage of emoji use was higher in RATA than CATA questions. </LI> <LI> In 3 of 5 studies there was evidence of similar or greater sample discrimination by CATA than RATA questions. </LI> <LI> CATA and RATA questions were perceived as easy and not tedious. </LI> <LI> Choice of CATA vs RATA should be made in conjunction with sample set characteristics. </LI> </UL> </P>

Clinical and anatomic description of patients with arteriovenous malformation treated with endovascular therapy in a Mexican population

Mallyolo Eliezer Pelayo-Salazar,Héctor Alfredo Montenegro-Rosales,Jorge Luis Balderrama-Bañares,Pablo Martínez-Arellano,Omar Andrés Campos-Flota,Laura Mestre-Orozco,Julio César López-Valdés 대한뇌혈관외과학회 2023 Journal of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neuros Vol.25 No.1

Objective: Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are benign congenital lesions. The estimated prevalence is 10-18 per 100,000 individuals, with an incidence rate of 1.1-1.4 per 100,000 person-year; only 12% of AVMs present symptoms during life. It is important to study different characteristics associated with AVMs because these patients require multidisciplinary treatment. Methods: A descriptive, observational, longitudinal, and retrospective study was carried out from January 15, 2016 to October 19, 2021. Convenience sampling was used on patients diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation. Sociodemographic data was obtained, such as: sex, age, site, predominant symptoms, clinical debut, type of malformation, data associated with post therapy evolution, type of embolizing agent used, associated complications, Rankin scale, and death. Results: Data from 535 procedures was collected, we calculated an incidence of 4.4 cases per million inhabitants. Ninety procedures in 56 patients that used endovascular therapy were obtained with a female-male ratio of 0.75 and an age distribution of 35±14 (SD). A 36.3±11.5 (SD) mm diameter was registered. There was a 33% success rate for endovascular surgery. Conclusions: The multidisciplinary treatment of AVMs is made up of three pillar techniques: microsurgical resection, embolization, and radio-neurosurgery. It is extremely important to make an appropriate decision, with an emphasis on achieving better functional outcomes for the patient. Although neurological endovascular therapy was initially used as an adjuvant treatment for neurosurgery and radio-neurosurgery, it has been used more and more frequently as the first line of treatment.

Improved cell growth and biosynthesis of glycolic acid by overexpression of membrane-bound pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase

Cabulong, Rhudith B.,Valdehuesa, Kris Niñ,o G.,Bañ,ares, Angelo B.,Ramos, Kristine Rose M.,Nisola, Grace M.,Lee, Won-Keun,Chung, Wook-Jin Springer-Verlag 2019 Journal of industrial microbiology & biotechnology Vol.46 No.2

Engineering Escherichia coli for glycolic acid production from D-xylose through the Dahms pathway and glyoxylate bypass

Cabulong, Rhudith B.,Lee, Won-Keun,Bañ,ares, Angelo B.,Ramos, Kristine Rose M.,Nisola, Grace M.,Valdehuesa, Kris Niñ,o G.,Chung, Wook-Jin Springer-Verlag 2018 Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol.102 No.5

<P>Glycolic acid (GA) is an ai-hydroxy acid used in cosmetics, packaging, and medical industries due to its excellent properties, especially in its polymeric form. In this study, Escherichia coli was engineered to produce GA from D-xylose by linking the Dahms pathway, the glyoxylate bypass, and the partial reverse glyoxylate pathway (RGP). Initially, a GA-producing strain was constructed by disrupting the xylAB and glcD genes in the E. coli genome and overexpressing the xdh(Cc) from Caulobacter crescentus. This strain was further improved through modular optimization of the Dahms pathway and the glyoxylate bypass. Results for module 1 showed that the rate-limiting step of the Dahms pathway was the xylonate dehydratase reaction, and the overexpression of yagF was sufficient to overcome this bottleneck. Furthermore, the appropriate aldolase gene for module 1 was proven to be yagE. The results also show that overexpression of the lactaldehyde dehydrogenase gene, aldA, is needed to increase the GA production while the overexpression of glyoxylate reductase gene, ycdW, was only essential when the glyoxylate bypass was active. On the other hand, the module 2 enzymes AceA and AceK were vital in activating the glyoxylate bypass, while the RGP enzymes were dispensable. The final strain (GA19) produced 4.57 g/L GA with a yield of 0.46 g/g from D-xylose. So far, this is the highest value achieved for GA production in engineered E. coli through the Dahms pathway.</P>

Measurement of product emotions using emoji surveys: Case studies with tasted foods and beverages

Jaeger, S.R.,Lee, S.M.,Kim, K.O.,Chheang, S.L.,Jin, D.,Ares, G. Longman Scientific Technical ; Elsevier Science Pu 2017 Food quality and preference Vol.62 No.-

<P>An increasing number of methods exist for the measurement of product-emotion associations, and the present research implements emoji surveys for this purpose. Emoji warrants attention due to their increasing popularity and spontaneous use by consumers in food-related communications. Seven case studies were conducted in Korea and New Zealand (118-141 consumers per study), across which a wide range of commercially available foods and beverages were evaluated. Product-emotional associations were obtained with CATA questions featuring 33 facial and 6 non-facial emoji. The most frequently used emoji had positive valence, and it was by valence that the dominant sample discrimination occurred. Samples with high overall liking were associated with positive emoji, whereas negative emoji were used to characterise samples with low overall liking. Some evidence was found of samples with the same average overall liking scores being associated with different emoji. There was also evidence of sample characterisation and discrimination relative to emotional arousal (high/low), but this was largely secondary to sample discrimination based on emotional valence. Consumers perceived emoji surveys to be easy and not tedious. A comparison of CATA questions containing 25 emoji or 25 emotion words (EsSense25) pointed to similarity in the average number of emoji/emotion words used to characterise samples. However, a tendency for word-based responses to be more discriminative and able to determine distinctive emotional profiles for individual samples was found. This was attributed to differences in the emotions included in the two survey formats. Emoji should not be regarded as a direct substitute for existing word-based emotion surveys, but as an alternative method for emotion measurement. Directions for further methodological research to refine emoji surveys are outlined.</P>

LETTER TO THE EDITOR : Epoprostenol: Flushing or Erythroderma?

Mar?a Luisa Mart?nez Mart?nez,Eduardo Escario Travesedo,Ana Nu?ez Ares,Syong Hyun Nam Cha,Mar?a Rodr?guez V?zquez,Juan Gabriel C?rdoba Soriano,Rafaela S?nchez Sim?n Talero 대한피부과학회 2013 Annals of Dermatology Vol.25 No.2

Concurrent elicitation of hedonic and CATA/RATA responses with Chinese and Korean consumers: Hedonic bias is unlikely to occur

Jaeger, S.R.,Kim, K.O.,Lee, S.M.,Hunter, D.C.,Kam, K.,Chheang, S.L.,Jin, D.,Lee, P.Y.,Xia, Y.,Ares, G. Longman Scientific Technical ; Elsevier Science Pu 2017 Food quality and preference Vol.56 No.1

<P>In line with research in non-Western countries becoming main-stream, the need to validate existing research methods with consumers from these populations increase. The present research contributes hereto by quasi-replicating with Korean and Chinese consumers previous research concerning the risk of hedonic product responses being biased by co-elicitation of CATA/RATA questions for sensory product characterisation. Using consumers in several Western countries it was previously reported that bias could occur, but was unlikely to. Eleven studies involving 1000 East Asian consumers confirmed this conclusion. The studies were conducted with diversified populations and across multiple product categories. Across 7 studies, there were no instances where CATA co-elicitation was found to bias hedonic scores. However, in one of four studies where RATA responses were co-elicited bias did occur, and hedonic scores were, on average, lower when RATA responses were co-elicited. It is recommended that the research be replicated with consumers residing in their home countries and extended to other East and South-East Asian counties. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</P>

Peri-implantitis, systemic inflammation, and dyslipidemia: a cross-sectional biochemical study

Carlota Blanco,Antonio Liñares,Jose Dopico,Alex Pico,Tomás Sobrino,Yago Leira,Juan Blanco 대한치주과학회 2021 Journal of Periodontal & Implant Science Vol.51 No.5

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the inflammatory and lipid profile of patients with and without peri-implantitis. Methods: A cross-sectional biochemical study was carried out in which blood samples were collected from 16 patients with peri-implantitis and from 31 subjects with healthy implants. Clinical peri-implant parameters were obtained from all subjects. Levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured in serum. Lipid fractions, glucose and creatinine levels, and complete blood count were also assessed. Results: After controlling for a history of periodontitis, statistically significant differences between peri-implantitis patients and controls were found for total cholesterol (estimated adjusted mean difference, 76.4 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval [CI], 39.6, 113.2 mg/dL; P<0.001), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (estimated adjusted mean difference, 57.7 mg/dL; 95% CI, 23.8, 91.6 mg/dL; P<0.001), white blood cells (WBC) (estimated adjusted mean difference, 2.8×103/μL; 95% CI, 1.6, 4.0×103/μL; P<0.001) and IL-10 (estimated adjusted mean difference, −10.4 pg/mL; 95% CI, −15.8, −5.0 pg/mL; P<0.001). The peri-implant probing pocket depth (PPD) was modestly positively correlated with total cholesterol (r=0.512; P<0.001), LDL cholesterol (r=0.463; P=0.001), and WBC (r=0.519; P<0.001). A moderate negative correlation was observed between IL-10 and PPD (r=0.609; P<0.001). Conclusions: Otherwise healthy individuals with peri-implantitis showed increased low-grade systemic inflammation and dyslipidemia.