SecA is an evolutionarily conserved protein that plays an indispensable role in the secretion of proteins across the bacterial cell membrane. Comparative analyses of SecA homologs have identified two large conserved signature inserts (CSIs) that are...
Many geographically peripheral member states of the EU are critically dependent on short sea Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) and mixed freight–passenger (RoPax) shipping services for intra-European trade. The implementation of the Sulfur Emission Control Are...
SecA protein is a major component of the general bacterial secretory system. It is an ATPase that couples nucleotide hydrolysis to protein translocation. In some Gram-positive pathogens, a second paralogue, SecA2, exports a different set of substrate...
Rangeland (known as Dehesas or Montados) is a characteristic ecosystem of the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula that occupies approximately 3.5 million ha, representing the most important agrosilvopastoral system in Europe. Nowadays, this si...
There are many sub-tour elimination constraint (SEC) formulations for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). Among the different methods found in articles, usually three apply more than others. This study examines the Danzig–Fulkerson–Johnson (DFJ), M...
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has proposed several environmental regulations on controlling SOx and NOx emissions from ships in coastal areas. Under the framework of IMO, some areas have established strict emission control areas (ECAs...
Protein secretion plays a central role in modulating interactions of the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes with its environment. Recently, secretion of RNA has emerged as an important strategy used by the pathogen to manipulate the host cell resp...
The plastid stroma-localized chaperone HSP90C plays a crucial role in maintaining optimal proteostasis within chloroplasts and participates in protein translocation processes. While existing studies have revealed HSP90C’s direct interaction wit...
The remote sensing classification of urban functional zones provides scientific support for urban planning, land resource optimization, and ecological environment protection. However, urban functional zone classification encounters significant challe...
In this work we propose a mathematical model to determine the potentially propagation areas of the Mediterranean Quercus disease commonly referred to as “seca” in specific areas of Extremadura. To do it we will use optimal computational geometry algo...
The process of production, consumption, and final disposal of electrical and electronic equipment usually leads to harmful waste to the environment called e-waste. Eliminating and decreasing this type of waste could be considered as an essential goal...
SecA is a widely conserved ATPase that drives the secretion of proteins across the cell membrane via the SecYEG translocon, while the SRP system is a key player in the insertion of membrane proteins via SecYEG. How SecA gains access to substrate prot...
1 June 2019
Emission of pollutants from shipping contributes to ambient air pollution. Our aim was to estimate exposure to particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and health effects from shipping in countries around the Baltic Sea, as well as effects of the sulfur reg...
In order to reduce pollution caused by ship emissions, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) implemented sulfur emission control areas (SECAs). In comparison to ordinary vessels, cruise ships with dual attributes of transportation and tourism...
Ceramic objects found in the Islamic Taifa of Albarracin (Spain), 12th century CE, were studied to ascertain the main characteristics and influences of its manufacture. Production centers even from small kingdoms can add new insights in medieval cera...
Severe land degradation has strongly affected both people’s livelihood and the environment in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese), a natural resource poor country. Despite the enormous investment in soil and water conservation measures (SWC or S...
Palm lethal yellowing phytoplasmas (PLYPs) are a group of phytoplasmas that cause death in infected hosts across the tropics. Historically, detection and identification has relied on standard PCR, nested PCR, and restriction fragment length polymorph...
The Sierra Seca aquifer system is located in the northeast (NE) of the province of Granada, in the Prebetic Domain (Betic Cordillera). It is composed of different aquifer units hosted in the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous limestones. The two a...
Tropical dry forests (TDF) are endangered ecosystems characterized by a matrix of successional forest patches with structural differences across the Neotropics. Until now, there have been few studies that analyze the partitioning of rainfall by fores...
The article addresses the issue of liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution as a marine fuel, analyzing both ecological and economic aspects in the context of the Baltic Sea basin. The authors emphasize that LNG plays an increasingly significant role...
29 October 2020
In 2015, stricter regulations to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions and particulate air pollution from shipping were implemented in the Baltic Sea. We investigated the effects on population exposure to particles <2.5 µm (PM2.5) from shipping an...
Holm oak is a key tree species in Mediterranean ecosystems, whose populations have been increasingly threatened by oak decline syndrome, a disease caused by the combined action of Phytophthora cinnamomi and abiotic stresses. The aim of the present st...
Air pollutants emitted by ocean-going vessels (OGVs) cause numerous environmental and human health problems. In 2016, the Belgian Coastguard aircraft was equipped with a sniffer sensor to monitor compliance with MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 14. However...
Lactococcus lactis is a potential bacterial cell factory to develop delivery systems for vaccines and therapeutic proteins. Much progress has been made in applications using engineered L. lactis against, e.g., inflammatory bowel disease and cervical...
In order to tackle sulfur oxides (
Due to a high content of sesquiterpenes, Carpesium abrotanoides has been investigated to fully explore its health-promoting properties. Therefore, this work aimed to assess, for the first time, the anti-influenza A virus H1N1 potential of sesquiterpe...
The present study aims to validate the 40-item and the brief 17-item Washoe County School District Social–Emotional Competency Assessment (WCSD-SECA), a self-report measure of social–emotional competencies, among Chinese school-aged child...
Macroalgae are increasingly viewed as a source of secondary metabolites with great potential for the development of new drugs. In this development, in vitro studies are only the first step in a long process, while in vivo studies and clinical trials...
Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common blood cancer. Treatments for MM include corticosteroids, alkylating agents, anthracyclines, proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, histone deacetylase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. Survi...
Euphorbia genus (Euphorbiaceae family), which is the third largest genus of angiosperm plants comprising ca. 2000 recognized species, is used all over the world in traditional medicine, especially in the traditional Chinese medicine. Members of this...
Pursuing the goal of finding active molecules against cancer using various approaches, we
focused on natural-based scaffolds in terrestrial plants and in marine macroalgae, taking advantage
of the rich biodiversity of the Azores islands. [...]
Sesquiterpene lactones, a vast range of terpenoids isolated from Asteraceae species, exhibit a broad spectrum of biological effects and several of them are already commercially available, such as artemisinin. Here the most recent and impactful result...
A current research topic of great interest is the study of the therapeutic properties of plants and of their bioactive secondary metabolites. Plants have been used to treat all types of health problems from allergies to cancer, in addition to their u...
An imbalance in the production of reactive oxygen species in the body can cause an increase of oxidative stress that leads to oxidative damage to cells and tissues, which culminates in the development or aggravation of some chronic diseases, such as...
Nature represents an amazing source of inspiration since it produces a great diversity of natural compounds selected by evolution, which exhibit multiple biological activities and applications. A large and very active research field is dedicated to i...
Knowledge about folk medicines is limited to elder community members of remote communities, like Sete Cidades in the Azores. The Azores, 1300 km west of Portugal, are nine volcanic islands, totalling 2330 km2 of land dispersed by 173,200 km2 in the N...
Seaweed beach-casts are a seasonal phenomenon that regularly deposits tons of algae biomass on beaches, which are usually disposed of in landfills. The present work aimed to contribute to the valorization of this biomass by studying bioactivities tha...
Being naturally enriched in key nutrients and in various health-promoting compounds, seaweeds represent promising candidates for the design of functional foods. Soluble dietary fibers, peptides, phlorotannins, lipids and minerals are macroalgae’s maj...
Oxidative stress is one of the risk factors for the development of several chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Antioxidants are therefore highly sought and can be seen as a type of preventive med...
Natural and synthetic xanthone derivatives are well-known for their ability to act as antioxidants and/or enzyme inhibitors. This paper aims to present a successful synthetic methodology towards xanthenedione derivatives and the study of their aromat...
Isolation, finding or discovery of novel anticancer agents is very important for cancer treatment, and seaweeds are one of the largest producers of chemically active metabolites with valuable cytotoxic properties, and therefore can be used as new che...
This Medicines special issue focuses on the great potential of secondary metabolites for therapeutic applications. The special issue contains 16 articles reporting relevant experimental results and overviews of bioactive secondary metabolites. Their...
Chalcones and flavanones are isomeric structures and also classes of natural products, belonging to the flavonoid family. Moreover, their wide range of biological activities makes them key scaffolds for the synthesis of new and more efficient drugs....
Although the genus Asparagopsis includes only two taxonomically accepted species, the published literature is unanimous about the invasive nature of this genus in different regions of the globe, and about the availability of large amounts of biomass...
Global demand for food production is causing pressure to produce faster and bigger crop yields, leading to a rampant use of synthetical pesticides. To combat the nefarious consequences of its uses, a search for effective alternatives began in the las...
Terrestrial plants, due to their sessile nature, are highly exposed to environmental pressure and therefore need to produce very effective molecules that enable them to survive all the threats. Myrica and Morella (Myricaceae) are taxonomically close...
The genus Artemisia, often known collectively as “wormwood”, has aroused great interest in the scientific community, pharmaceutical and food industries, generating many studies on the most varied aspects of these plants. In this review, t...
Cystoseira abies-marina (reclassified as Gongolaria abies-marina) is a brown seaweed species rich in meroterpenoids, presenting interesting antioxidant, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, there is still a lot to uncover regarding t...
Background: A considerable number of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients only experience side effects from treatment, with little to no actual pain relief. The combination of disease diagnosis in biomedicine and multi-disciplinary integrative approach...
Our previous work has described a library of thioxanthones designed to have dual activity as P-glycoprotein modulators and antitumor agents. Some of these compounds had shown a significant cell growth inhibitory activity towards leukemia cell lines,...
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