Proteins turn "Proteans" - The over 40-year delayed paradigm shift in structural biology: From to .

The current millennium brought up a revolutionary paradigm shift in molecular biology: many operative proteins, rather than being quasi-rigid polypeptide chains folded into unique configurations - as believed throughout most of the past century - are now known to be intrinsically disordered, dynamic, pleomorphic, and multifunctional structures with stochastic behaviors. Yet, part of this knowledge, including suggestions about possible mechanisms and plenty of evidence for the same, became available by the 1950s and 1960s to remain then nearly forgotten for over 40 years. Here, we review the main steps toward the classic notions about protein structures, as well as the neglected precedents of present views, discuss possible explanations for such long oblivion, and offer a sketch of the current panorama in this field.

Upper limb orientation assessment as an articulated body chain.

Upper limb orientation estimation based on Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity sensors considering multiple body segments is presented in this work. The proposal allowed assessing the activity of two or more body segments individually and jointly, regardless of their spatial relationship. A custom-made system was developed incorporating a complementary filter and a proportional-integral control for data sensor merging and, noise and instrumentation error reduction.

Genetic/genomic testing: defining the parameters for ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI).

Background: Genetic/genomic testing (GGT) are useful tools for improving health and preventing diseases. Still, since GGT deals with sensitive personal information that could significantly impact a patient's life or that of their family, it becomes imperative to consider Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI). Thus, ELSI studies aim to identify and address concerns raised by genomic research that could affect individuals, their family, and society.

The activity of Aurora kinase B is required for dengue virus release.

Flaviviruses, such as Dengue (DENV), Zika, Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis and West Nile are important pathogens with high morbidity and mortality. The last estimation indicates that ∼390 millions of people are infected by DENV per year. The DENV replicative cycle occurs mainly in the cytoplasm of the infected cells and different cytoplasmic, nuclear and mitochondrial proteins participate in viral replication.

What is in a word? Neuron: Early usage and evolution in antiquity to its long-lasting current significance.

Neuron, a Greek term with a rustic background, made much of its way to its current significance since antiquity, when full recognition was achieved that sensory and motor signals travel through the animal body along nerves (neura, plural). Drawing from classic and recent historical scholarship, this study identifies the successive steps toward such a major breakthrough, starting from the usage of the expression in archaic times and continuing up to the much later transference of a mature theory into the modern world. It is shown that four main consecutive stages may be distinguished in the process: (a) incorporation of the word into early anatomical terminology; (b) theorizing on material composition, origin, properties, and role of the neura in animal bodies; (c) functional association of the neura with a transmitting vehicle; (d) identification of true anatomical and physiological correspondences.

Assessing Individual Intellectual Output in Scientific Research: Mexico's National System for Evaluating Scholars Performance in the Humanities and the Behavioral Sciences.

Assessing the research of individual scholars is currently a matter of serious concern and worldwide debate. In order to gauge the long-term efficacy and efficiency of this practice, we carried out a limited survey of the operation and outcome of Mexico's 30-year old National System of Investigators or SNI, the country's main instrument for stimulating competitive research in science and technology. A statistical random sample of researchers listed in the area of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences-one of SNI's first and better consolidated academic divisions comprising a wide range of research disciplines, from philosophy to pedagogy to archaeology to experimental brain research-was screened comparing individual ranks or "Levels of distinction" to actual compliance with the SNI's own evaluation criteria, as reflected in major public databases of scholarly production.

Lipogenic Enzymes Complexes and Cytoplasmic Lipid Droplet Formation During Adipogenesis.

Lipid droplets are dynamic organelles that store triglycerides and participate in their mobilization in adipose cells. These organelles require the reorganization of some structural components, the cytoskeleton, and the activation of lipogenic enzymes. Using confocal microscopy, we analyzed the participation of cytoskeletal components and two lipogenic enzymes, fatty acid synthase and glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, during lipid droplet biogenesis in differentiating 3T3-F442A cells into adipocytes.

Voltage-dependent potassium currents expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes after injection of mRNA isolated from trophozoites of Giardia lamblia (strain Portland-1).

Despite its importance as a health problem issue, almost nothing is known about the membrane physiology of Giardia lamblia and practically there exist no information so far regarding the variety and properties of ion channels that this protozoan parasite possesses. To address this subject we resorted to an indirect method, consisting in the injection of mRNA and further characterization of ion currents in Xenopus oocytes. In this work, we show that oocytes injected with mRNA isolated from cultured trophozoites of G.

Neura, nerves, nerve fibers, neurofibrils, microtubules: multidimensional routes of pain, pleasure, and voluntary action in images across the ages.

Available records indicate that the human body has always been conceived, in different periods and cultures, as spanned by multiple channels for internal communication and coherent functioning as a unit-"meridians" in treatises of Chinese medicine, metu in Egyptian papyri, srotas in Ayurvedic Indian texts, and neura in the Western scientific heritage from ancient Greece. Unfortunately, the earliest extant figurative depictions of such pathways of general control, complementary to the blood vessels, are late medieval copies of old crude sketches that attempted to show the main anatomico-physiological systems. The scarcity of adequate illustrations was more than compensated in the Renaissance, when the efforts of both artists and anatomists for the first time produced basically correct renditions of the human nervous system and many other bodily structures.

Glucocorticoid paradoxically recruits adipose progenitors and impairs lipid homeostasis and glucose transport in mature adipocytes.

Chronic treatment with glucocorticoids increases the mass of adipose tissue and promotes metabolic syndrome. However little is known about the molecular effects of dexamethasone on adipose biology. Here, we demonstrated that dexamethasone induces progenitor cells to undergo adipogenesis.

EDF-1 downregulates the CaM/Cn/NFAT signaling pathway during adipogenesis.

The endothelial differentiation factor-1 (EDF-1) is a calmodulin binding protein that regulates calmodulin-dependent enzymes. In endothelial cells, this factor can form a protein complex with calmodulin. We analyzed the relationship between this factor and the members of calmodulin/calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) signaling pathway during adipogenesis of 3T3-F442A cells.

Pneuma-fire interactions in Hippocratic physiology.

Hippocratic treatises written in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE contain some of the earliest conjectures known concerning the physiological roles of the pneuma, or "breath," that was supposed to be involved in various functions within human and animal bodies. A cross-referenced survey of these texts suggests that the contemporary theories on the subject may have gone far beyond the well-known attribution of epilepsy and other diseases to disorders in the flow of pneuma within the vessels. A pattern of co-dependent interplay between air-pneuma and fire-heat is evident among the different sources, despite disagreements of the authors on general outlook and other matters.

New tools provide further insights into Giardia and Cryptosporidium biology.

The ubiquity and importance of Giardia and Cryptosporidium as pathogens are reflected in the increasing number of publications concerning these organisms, but they are not the only reason why researchers are increasingly turning their attention to studying Giardia and Cryptosporidium. As new tools and databases become available, it is now possible to investigate fundamental issues related to their biology and relationship with their hosts. In this article, we highlight recent advances in research and outline questions arising that need to be addressed as a way of focusing the attention of the research and health communities and encouraging further dialogue and collaboration.