scholarly journals The Dynamic Life of Virus Capsids

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 618
Author(s):  
Michael B. Sherman ◽  
Hong Q. Smith ◽  
Thomas J. Smith

Protein-shelled viruses have been thought as “tin cans” that merely carry the genomic cargo from cell to cell. However, through the years, it has become clear that viruses such as rhinoviruses and caliciviruses are active and dynamic structures waiting for the right environmental cues to deliver their genomic payload to the host cell. In the case of human rhinoviruses, the capsid has empty cavities that decrease the energy required to cause conformational changes, resulting in the capsids “breathing”, waiting for the moment when the receptor binds for it to release its genome. Most strikingly, the buried N-termini of VP1 and VP4 are transiently exposed during this process. A more recent example of a “living” protein capsid is mouse norovirus (MNV). This family of viruses have a large protruding (P) domain that is loosely attached to the shell via a single-polypeptide tether. Small molecules found in the gut, such as bile salts, cause the P domains to rotate and collapse onto the shell surface. Concomitantly, bile alters the conformation of the P domain itself from one that binds antibodies to one that recognizes receptors. In this way, MNV appears to use capsid flexibility to present one face to the immune system and a completely different one to attack the host tissue. Therefore, it appears that even protein-shelled viruses have developed an impressive array of tricks to dodge our immune system and efficiently attack the host.

Author(s):  
Burton B. Silver

Sectioned tissue rarely indicates evidence of what is probably a highly dynamic state of activity in mitochondria which have been reported to undergo a variety of movements such as streaming, divisions and coalescence. Recently, mitochondria from the rat anterior pituitary have been fixed in a variety of configurations which suggest that conformational changes were occurring at the moment of fixation. Pinocytotic-like vacuoles which may be taking in or expelling materials from the surrounding cell medium, appear to be forming in some of the mitochondria. In some cases, pores extend into the matrix of the mitochondria. In other forms, the remains of what seems to be pinched off vacuoles are evident in the mitochondrial interior. Dense materials, resembling secretory droplets, appear at the junction of the pores and the cytoplasm. The droplets are similar to the secretory materials commonly identified in electron micrographs of the anterior pituitary.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Gödör ◽  
Georgina Szabó

Abstract As they say, money can’t buy happiness. However, the lack of it can make people’s lives much harder. From the moment we open our first bank account, we have to make lots of financial decisions in our life. Should I save some money or should I spend it? Is it a good idea to ask for a loan? How to invest my money? When we make such decisions, unfortunately we sometimes make mistakes, too. In this study, we selected seven common decision making biases - anchoring and adjustment, overconfidence, high optimism, the law of small numbers, framing effect, disposition effect and gambler’s fallacy – and tested them on the Hungarian population via an online survey. In the focus of our study was the question whether the presence of economic knowledge helps people make better decisions? The decision making biases found in literature mostly appeared in the sample as well. It proves that people do apply them when making decisions and in certain cases this could result in serious and costly errors. That’s why it would be absolutely important for people to learn about them, thus increasing their awareness and attention when making decisions. Furthermore, in our research we did find some connection between decisions and the knowledge of economics, people with some knowledge of economics opted for the better solution in bigger proportion


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 832-838
Author(s):  
Roshna Sukheoji Bhutada ◽  
Renu Rathi ◽  
Devyani Dasar

WHO declared Covid 19 /SARS -COV-2 as a global pandemic.Till date, there is no medicine for COVID-19. If the Infection arises in the body then the defence mechanism activated against infection. A recent study suggests that temporarily augmenting the body's immune system in the early stages of COVID-19 can help patient to avoid severe symptoms as it is rightly said prevention is better than cure. Ayurveda approaches to develop physiological reactions to facilitate immunity. Planning of diet is most important to boost immunity.As per many researches to provide supplementary food which contains Zinc, Vitamin C,Vitamin D and immunity boosting foodsuch as citrus natural products, custard apple, apple, papaya is among the Fruits. Vegetables include broccoli, onion, garlic and green leafy vegetables. Nuts, ginger, turmeric, pepper, egg yolk, shellfish, mushroom. The need of the hour is a quick boost to immune system to keep it fit, fighting. One should get the right amount of nutrients from the diet, supplementation regimen to boost immune system.In this review, there are few common supplements and super food studies have been included. It might be a torch bearer as sample menu and their alternatives are given for a normal adult. Needy may change contemplated according to age, sex, body mass index and daily physical activities.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Maria Felisberti

Visual field asymmetries (VFA) in the encoding of groups rather than individual faces has been rarely investigated. Here, eye movements (dwell time (DT) and fixations (Fix)) were recorded during the encoding of three groups of four faces tagged with cheating, cooperative, or neutral behaviours. Faces in each of the three groups were placed in the upper left (UL), upper right (UR), lower left (LL), or lower right (LR) quadrants. Face recognition was equally high in the three groups. In contrast, the proportion of DT and Fix were higher for faces in the left than the right hemifield and in the upper rather than the lower hemifield. The overall time spent looking at the UL was higher than in the other quadrants. The findings are relevant to the understanding of VFA in face processing, especially groups of faces, and might be linked to environmental cues and/or reading habits.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Nuah Perdamenta Tarigan ◽  
Christian Siregar ◽  
Simon Mangatur Tampubolon

Justice that has not existed and is apparent among the disabilities in Indonesia is very large and spread in the archipelago is very large, making the issue of equality is a very important thing especially with the publication of the Disability Act No. 8 of 2016 at the beginning of that year. Only a few provinces that understand properly and well on open and potential issues and issues will affect other areas including the increasingly growing number of elderly people in Indonesia due to the increasing welfare of the people. The government of DKI Jakarta, including the most concerned with disability, from the beginning has set a bold step to defend things related to disability, including local governments in Solo, Bali, Makassar and several other areas. Leprosy belonging to the disability community has a very tough marginalization, the disability that arises from leprosy quite a lot, reaches ten percent more and covers the poor areas of Indonesia, such as Nusa Tenggara Timur, Papua, South Sulawesi Provinces and even East Java and West Java and Central Java Provinces. If we compare again with the ASEAN countries we also do not miss the moment in ratifying the CRPD (Convention of Rights for People with Disability) into the Law of Disability No. 8 of 2016 which, although already published but still get rejections in some sections because do not provide proper empowerment and rights equality. The struggle is long and must be continued to build equal rights in all areas, not only health and welfare but also in the right of the right to receive continuous inclusive education.


Author(s):  
Jonathan D. Moore

Our hopes of using the power of the immune system to control tumours have been partially fulfilled with anti-PD1 antibodies and other checkpoint inhibitors and the use of engineered T cells targeting lineage-specific surface markers with chimeric antigen receptors. Can these successes be generalised? Therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to educate or re-educate the immune system to recognise tumour specific or tumour associated antigens. After many false dawns, some positive data for the effectiveness of such an approach is starting to emerge in advanced solid tumours, albeit as combination therapies with checkpoint inhibitors. But is the field targeting the right antigens? Interventions using the most effective vaccine platforms to target certain sets of antigens in patients with low disease burden might bring impressive long-term benefits to patients as single agents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4(165) ◽  
pp. 147-158
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Kawałko

The commented ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal concerns the constitutionality of the provision of Article 70(1) of the Family and Guardianship Code, which provided that the time limit for a child to bring an action to deny the paternity of his or her mother’s husband is three years and runs from the moment the child reaches the age of majority, regardless of the child’s know-ledge of his or her biological origin, i.e. regardless of whether the child within that time limit acquired knowledge that he or she did not come from his or her mother’s husband and whether the child could decide to bring an action. The expiry of the three-year period resulted in the expiry of the child’s right to claim the denial of paternity of the mother’s husband and, consequently, precluded the possibility of a positive determination of the paternity of a man other than the mother’s husband. The Constitutional Tribunal found this provision to be inconsistent with Article 30 in conjunction with Article 47 in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The author agrees with the position expressed by the Constitutional Tribunal in the judgment in question, which in this case provides a basis for consideration of the relationship between the right to know one’s biological origin and the value of stabilising the civil status of a child and persons remaining in an established family relationship with him or her.


2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (8) ◽  
pp. 595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina K. Such ◽  
Angus P. R. Johnston

Nanoparticle delivery systems have significant potential to facilitate the delivery of novel therapeutics, such as proteins, DNA or small molecules. However, there are multiple biological barriers that need to be overcome to deliver the cargo in an active form. These challenges include evading clearance by the reticuloendothelial system, minimising adverse immune responses, targeting specific cells and tissues, and trafficking into the right compartment of the cell. In this account, we will discuss how nanoparticle structure can be tuned to optimise biological interactions and thus improve the ability of nanoparticles to overcome these barriers. The focus of this article will be on controlling cell targeting and trafficking within a cell, e.g. endosomal escape.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Knoop ◽  
M. Keyvan-Ekbatani ◽  
M. de Baat ◽  
H. Taale ◽  
S. P. Hoogendoorn

Freeways form an important part of the road network. Yet, driving behavior on freeways, in particular lane changes and the relation with the choice of speed, is not well understood. To overcome this, an online survey has been carried out. Drivers were shown video clips, and after each clip they had to indicate what they would do after the moment the video stopped. A total of 1258 Dutch respondents completed the survey. The results show that most people have a strategy to choose a speed first and stick to that, which is the first strategy. A second, less often chosen, strategy is to choose a desired lane and adapt the speed based on the chosen lane. A third strategy, slightly less frequently chosen, is that drivers have a desired speed, but contrary to the first strategy, they increase this speed when they are in a different lane overtaking another driver. A small fraction have neither a desired speed nor a desired lane. Of the respondents 80% use the right lane if possible, and 80% avoid overtaking at the right. Also 80% give way to merging traffic. The survey was validated by 25 survey respondents also driving an instrumented vehicle. The strategies in this drive were similar to those in the survey. The findings of this work can be implemented in traffic simulation models, e.g., to determine road capacity and constraints in geometric design.


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