Modulating the oxygen affinity of porphyrins with metals, ligands, and functional groups: A DFT study.

The interaction between different metals (M), axial ligands (L), and ring substituents (R) in porphyrins was investigated using density functional theory. Different combinations of iron and cobalt as metal centers; imidazole, chlorine, and an n-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) as axial ligands, and unsubstituted, octaethyl-, and tetraphenyl-porphyrins were explored in their low, intermediate, and high-spin states, alongside oxygen affinity. Remarkably, the n-heterocyclic carbene enhanced the affinity of cobalt porphyrins to oxygen, with binding energies on average 4.

Proneurogenic actions of follicle-stimulating hormone on neurospheres derived from ovarian cortical cells in vitro.

Background: Neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) from extra-neural origin represent a valuable tool for autologous cell therapy and research in neurogenesis. Identification of proneurogenic biomolecules on NSPCs would improve the success of cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Preliminary data suggested that follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) might act in this fashion.

MicroRNAs modulate immunological and inflammatory responses in Holstein cattle naturally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the post-transcriptional expression of genes by binding to their target mRNAs. In this study, whole miRNA sequencing was used to compare the expression of miRNAs in ileocecal valve (ICV) and peripheral blood (PB) samples of cows with focal or diffuse paratuberculosis (PTB)-associated lesions in gut tissues versus (vs) control cows without lesions. Among the eight miRNAs differentially expressed in the PB samples from cows with diffuse lesions vs controls, three (miR-19a, miR-144, miR32) were also down-regulated in cows with diffuse vs focal lesions.

Prospection of indigenous yeasts from Uruguayan Tannat vineyards for oenological applications.

Prospection of yeasts from oenological environments can provide knowledge of new native strains that are capable of fermenting must and positively influence the composition and sensory characteristics of the wine. This work addressed the biotechnological characterization of indigenous yeasts of Tannat must, an emblematic and widespread vineyard of Uruguay. Fifty-three yeast isolates were morphologically characterized and further identified by amplification and sequencing of ITS and D1-D2 regions, grouping into a total of fifteen species.

[Fetal death from ascending bacterial infection. Diagnostic method, a narrative review. Why is the method that includes placental study, evaluation of clinical and laboratory data efficient in identifying ascending bacterial infection as the cause of fetal death?].

This narrative review includes published studies of stillbirth classification methods and their efficiency in identifying ascending bacterial infection (ABI), as a cause of fetal death (FD), by searching PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online Library, Scielo. Many children die before birth around the world and it has not been possible to reduce FD because the methods used have not been adequate and because ABI, the most frequent cause of FD in a public hospital in Chile, is not diagnosed. Systems using clinical, laboratory and placental study data, INCODE, CORM, are more efficient in identifying ABI as the origin of FD.