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Common Structure (common + structure)
Selected AbstractsBirth defects caused by mutations in human GLI3 and mouse Gli3 genesCONGENITAL ANOMALIES, Issue 1 2010Ichiro Naruse ABSTRACT GLI3 is the gene responsible for Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (GCPS), Pallister,Hall syndrome (PHS) and Postaxial polydactyly type-A (PAP-A). Genetic polydactyly mice such as Pdn/Pdn (Polydactyly Nagoya), XtH/XtH (Extra toes) and XtJ/XtJ (Extra toes Jackson) are the mouse homolog of GCPS, and Gli3tmlUrtt/Gli3tmlUrt is produced as the mouse homolog of PHS. In the present review, relationships between mutation points of GLI3 and Gli3, and resulting phenotypes in humans and mice are described. It has been confirmed that mutation in the upstream or within the zinc finger domain of the GLI3 gene induces GCPS; that in the post-zinc finger region including the protease cleavage site induces PHS; and that in the downstream of the GLI3 gene induces PAP-A. A mimicking phenomenon was observed in the mouse homolog. Therefore, human GLI3 and mouse Gli3 genes have a common structure, and it is suggested here that mutations in the same functional regions produce similar phenotypes in human and mice. The most important issue might be that GCPS and PHS exhibit an autosomal dominant trait, but mouse homologs, such as Pdn/Pdn, XtH/XtH, XtJ/XtJ and Gli3tmlUrt/Gli3tmlUrt, are autosomal recessive traits in the manifestation of similar phenotypes to human diseases. It is discussed here how the reduced amounts of the GLI3 protein, or truncated mutant GLI3 protein, disrupt development of the limbs, head and face. [source] Prospects of a unified management systemCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2002Dr Tine Herreborg Jørgensen In this article, the trend among management systems towards a common structure and the inclusion of additional areas of corporate concern (quality, environment, occupational health and safety and social responsibility) is outlined. The article suggests that a large part of the work associated with implementing and maintaining standardized management systems can be rationalized by developing a ,unified system'. The unified system is proposed to consist of a common basic standard of general managerial methodology expandable with supplements, which are related to the specific areas of concern that the company could wish to include in their management system and possibly have certified. It is estimated that such a unified management system would contribute to synergy between the activities related to each area of concern, resulting in a more careful and efficient treatment of the increasing number of areas of concern. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment [source] AAA+ superfamily ATPases: common structure,diverse functionGENES TO CELLS, Issue 7 2001Teru Ogura The AAA+ superfamily of ATPases, which contain a homologous ATPase module, are found in all kingdoms of living organisms where they participate in diverse cellular processes including membrane fusion, proteolysis and DNA replication. Recent structural studies have revealed that they usually form ring-shaped oligomers, which are crucial for their ATPase activities and mechanisms of action. These ring-shaped oligomeric complexes are versatile in their mode of action, which collectively seem to involve some form of disruption of molecular or macromolecular structure; unfolding of proteins, disassembly of protein complexes, unwinding of DNA, or alteration of the state of DNA,protein complexes. Thus, the AAA+ proteins represent a novel type of molecular chaperone. Comparative analyses have also revealed significant similarities and differences in structure and molecular mechanism between AAA+ ATPases and other ring-shaped ATPases. [source] Comparison of genetic (co)variance matrices within and between Scabiosa canescens and S. columbariaJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2000Waldmann In the current study, we used bootstrap analyses and the common principal component (CPC) method of Flury (1988) to estimate and compare the G -matrix of Scabiosa columbaria and S. canescens populations. We found three major patterns in the G -matrices: (i) the magnitude of the (co)variances was more variable among characters than among populations, (ii) different populations showed high (co)variance for different characters, and (iii) there was a tendency for S. canescens to have higher genetic (co)variances than S. columbaria. The hypothesis of equal G -matrices was rejected in all comparisons and there was no evidence that the matrices differed by a proportional constant in any of the analyses. The two ,species matrices' were found to be unrelated, both for raw data and data standardized over populations, and there was significant between-population variation in the G -matrix in both species. Populations of S. canescens showed conservation of structure (principal components) in their G -matrices, contrasting with the lack of common structure among the S. columbaria matrices. Given these observations and the results from previous studies, we propose that selection may be responsible for some of the variation between the G -matrices, at least in S. columbaria and at the between-species level. [source] Isolation and Identification of Bitter Peptides of Tryptic Hydrolysate of Soybean 11S Glycinin by Reverse-phase High-performance Liquid ChromatographyJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 8 2003I M.-R. ABSTRACT: The 21 peptides purified from the bitter fraction of tryptic hydrolysates of soybean 11S glycinin by using gel-permeation high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and a series of 3 C18 reverse phase (RP)-HPLC were in the molecular weight range of 200-1400 Da and showed mostly the hydrophobicity of less than 1400 cal/mol. Although the primary structures of the bitter peptides from 11S glycinin were not exactly the same as those of the proglycinin, many bitter peptides were basic mimics of the common structure, indicating the significance of the primary structure of a peptide playing a role in the bitter taste perception. [source] Experimental and modeling analysis of diffusive release from single-shell microcapsulesAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 11 2009Enrique Muñoz Tavera Abstract There is much experimental and mathematical work that describes chemical transport from multilayered films of planar geometries. There is less so, however, for chemical transport from multilayered spheres, a common structure for controlled-release materials. Based on the Sturm,Liouville approach of Ramkrishna and Amundson (1974), explicit analytical solutions for the concentration profiles and release kinetics from spherical capsules are presented. Fluorescent dye-release studies using single-shelled microspheres called nanoparticle-assembled capsules were performed to validate the model for uniformly and nonuniformly sized capsules. The combined experiment-modeling approach allows optical microscopy images and release measurements to be readily analyzed for estimating diffusion coefficients in capsule core and shell walls. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Labour force participation rates at the regional and national levels of the European Union: An integrated analysis*PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2007J. Paul Elhorst Space-time data; multilevel analysis; spatial autocorrelation; labour force participation; labour market policy Abstract., This study investigates the causes of variation in regional labour force participation rates in a cross-country perspective. A microeconomic framework of the labour force participation decision is aggregated across individuals to obtain an explanatory model of regional participation rates in which both regional-level and national-level variables serve as explanatory variables. An appropriate econometric model of random coefficients for the regional variables and fixed coefficients for the national variables is developed, further taking into account that observations may be correlated over time and in space and that some of the explanatory variables are not strictly exogenous. This model is estimated for men and for women, using annual 1983,1997 Eurostat data from 157 regions across 13 EU countries. The hypotheses that regional participation rates in the EU are determined by a common structure and that labour force participation can be encouraged by a common policy must be strongly rejected. [source] Identification of Six New Photoactive Yellow Proteins,Diversity and Structure,Function Relationships in a Bacterial Blue Light Photoreceptor,PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Masato Kumauchi Photoactive yellow proteins (PYP) are bacterial photoreceptors with a Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain fold. We report the identification of six new PYPs, thus nearly doubling the size of this protein family. This extends the taxonomic diversity of PYP-containing bacteria from photosynthetic to nonphotosynthetic bacteria, from aquatic to soil-dwelling organisms, and from Proteobacteria to Salinibacter ruber from the phylum Bacteriodetes. The new PYPs greatly increase the sequence diversity of the PYP family, reducing the most prevalent pair-wise identity from 45% to 25%. Sequence alignments and analysis indicate that all 14 PYPs share a common structure with 13 highly conserved residues that form the chromophore binding pocket. Nevertheless, the functional properties of the PYPs vary greatly,the absorbance maximum extends from 432 to 465 nm, the pKa of the chromophore varies from pH 2.8 to 10.2, and the lifetime of the presumed PYP signaling state ranges from 1 ms to 1 h. Thus, the PYP family offers an excellent opportunity to investigate how functional properties are tuned over a wide range, while maintaining the same overall protein structural fold. We discuss the implications of these results for structure,function relationships in the PYP family. [source] Behavioral regulators in the brain of neonatal chicksANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2007Mitsuhiro FURUSE ABSTRACT Domestic chickens are precocial and therefore have relatively well-developed processes at hatch. As a result, neonatal chicks grow well at hatch with no parental care. The regulation of food intake in animals, including domestic birds, is complicated. Just after hatching, neonatal chicks find their food by themselves and they can control their food intake. Recently, prolactin releasing peptide and gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone were confirmed as central orexigenic factors in the neonatal chick. Both peptides have a common structure as RFamide peptides. On the other hand, vasoactive intestinal peptide and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide, both belonging to the glucagon superfamily, were recognized as inhibitory. Broiler chicks have either a greater capability to acclimatize to novel environments, or a blunted hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis compared with layer chicks. These differences are explained by higher melatonin concentrations in the pineal gland and other parts of the brain of broiler chicks since melatonin attenuates the stress response. Stressful behavior in chicks can be attenuated by neurotransmitters or by nutrients such as creatine, phosphatidylserine, L-serine and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate. It is suggested that the regulation of behavior is somewhat specific and can be attenuated by some manipulation in neonatal chicks. [source] II,Reflections on the Reasonable and the Rational in Conflict ResolutionARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME, Issue 1 2009Ruth Chang Most familiar approaches to social conflict moot reasonable ways of dealing with conflict, ways that aim to serve values such as legitimacy, justice, morality, fairness, fidelity to individual preferences, and so on. In this paper, I explore an alternative approach to social conflict that contrasts with the leading approaches of Rawlsians, perfectionists, and social choice theorists. The proposed approach takes intrinsic features of the conflict,what I call a conflict's evaluative ,structure',as grounds for a rational way of responding to that conflict. Like conflict within a single person, social conflict can have a distinctive evaluative structure that supports certain rational responses over others. I suggest that one common structure in both intra- and interpersonal cases of conflict supports the rational response of ,self-governance'. Self-governance in the case of social conflict involves a society's deliberating over the question, ,What kind of society should we be?' In liberal democracies, this rational response is also a reasonable one. [source] The missing link: self-assessment and continuing professional developmentAUSTRALIAN DENTAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010C Redwood Abstract The purpose of this paper is to review current understanding of the role of self-assessment in continuing education, particularly in the health professions, and to examine how this knowledge can assist in more effective continuing education. The ongoing debate over compulsory continuing professional development (CPD) has seen a variety of approaches proposed. CPD programmes are expected to foster self-assessing and self-directed practitioners, but the common structure is reported to be largely ineffectual in modifying behaviour. If dentistry is to maintain the rights and privileges of a self-regulating profession, then it must ensure that the development and judgement of ongoing competence is meaningful. Improving practitioners' knowledge of the how and why of effective self-assessment should improve participation in, and outcomes of, CPD. An oft-repeated observation is that the least competent are the most confident. If this is the case, then the idea that dentists should be able, or entitled, to choose the path of their continuing professional development must be open to question. We propose that development of the ability of practitioners to self-assess their ongoing requirements for CPD is essential if all stakeholders are to get the maximum return for effort. [source] Understanding the Plasticity of the ,/, Hydrolase Fold: Lid Swapping on the Candida antarctica Lipase B Results in Chimeras with Interesting Biocatalytic PropertiesCHEMBIOCHEM, Issue 3 2009Michael Skjøt Dr. Abstract The best of both worlds. Long molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) confirmed the function of helix ,5 as a lid structure. Replacement of the helix with corresponding lid regions from CALB homologues from Neurospora crassa and Gibberella zeae resulted in new CALB chimeras with novel biocatalytic properties. The figure shows a snapshot from the MD simulation. The Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB) has found very extensive use in biocatalysis reactions. Long molecular dynamics simulations of CALB in explicit aqueous solvent confirmed the high mobility of the regions lining the channel that leads into the active site, in particular, of helices ,5 and ,10. The simulation also confirmed the function of helix ,5 as a lid of the lipase. Replacing it with corresponding lid regions from the CALB homologues from Neurospora crassa and Gibberella zeae resulted in two new CALB mutants. Characterization of these revealed several interesting properties, including increased hydrolytic activity on simple esters, specifically substrates with C, branching on the carboxylic side, and much increased enantioselectivity in hydrolysis of racemic ethyl 2-phenylpropanoate (E>50), which is a common structure of the profen drug family. [source] The First Potent Subtype-Selective Retinoid X Receptor (RXR) Agonist Possessing a 3-Isopropoxy-4-isopropylphenylamino Moiety, NEt-3IP (RXR,/,-dual agonist)CHEMMEDCHEM, Issue 5 2008Kayo Takamatsu Abstract Retinoid X receptor (RXR) agonists (rexinoids) are attracting much attention for their use in treatment of cancers, including tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer and taxol-resistant lung cancer, and metabolic disease. However, known RXR agonists have a highly lipophilic character. In addition, no subtype-selective RXR agonists have been found. We previously reported an RXR,-preferential agonist 4-[N -methanesulfonyl- N -(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-2-naphthyl)amino]benzoic acid (6,a). The RXR agonistic activity is much less than that of well-known RXR agonists. To develop potent, less-lipophilic, and subtype-selective RXR agonists, we created new RXR agonists possessing alkoxy and isopropyl groups as a lipophilic domain of the common structure of well-known RXR agonists. As a result, compounds possessing branched alkoxy groups, 6-[N -ethyl- N -(3-isopropoxy-4-isopropylphenyl)amino]nicotinic acid (NEt-3IP: 7,a) and 6-[N -ethyl- N -(3-isobutoxy-4-isopropylphenyl)amino]nicotinic acid (NEt-3IB: 7,c), showed RXR agonistic activity as potent as, or more potent than, the activities of representative RXR agonists. Moreover, NEt-3IP (7,a) was found to be the first RXR,/,-selective (or RXR,/,-dual) agonist. Being potent, less lipophilic, and having RXR subtype-selective activity, NEt-3IP (7,a) is expected to become a new drug candidate and to be a useful biological tool for clarifying each RXR subtype function. [source] I,Varieties of Support and Confirmation of Climate ModelsARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME, Issue 1 2009Elisabeth A. Lloyd Today's climate models are supported in a couple of ways that receive little attention from philosophers or climate scientists. In addition to standard ,model fit', wherein a model's simulation is compared to observational data, there is an additional type of confirmation available through the variety of instances of model fit. When a model performs well at fitting first one variable and then another, the probability of the model under some standard confirmation function, say, likelihood, goes up more than under each individual case of fit alone. Thus, two instances of fit of distinct variables of a global climate model using distinct data sets considered collectively will provide stronger evidence for a model than either one of the instances considered individually. This has consequences for model robustness. Sets of models that produce robust results will, if their assumptions vary enough and they each are observationally sound, provide reasons to endorse common structures found in those models. Finally, independent empirical support for aspects and assumptions of the model provides an additional confirmational virtue for climate models, contrary to what is implied by some current philosophical writing on this topic. [source] | ||||||||||||||||